36,000 Feet
by InuRiotGrrl
Summary: InuKag Modern AU. What happens when two strangers find themselves seated next to each other on a flight around the world? **Nominated for Best AU 2020 2nd Quarterly Inuyasha Fandom Awards, run by FeudalConnection**
1. Chapter 1 Coincidence

Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters.

A/N: Rated M for language. Later chapters will have adult content. There will be an A/N at the beginning of any chapters with a mature rating, directing you to read the chapter elsewhere if you enjoy the taste of lemon.

Inuyasha was currently in a state of misery. He hated being around crowds of people, and he was literally going to be stuck with a bunch of strangers for the next seventeen hours, with no escape. Not only did he hate crowds, he hated cramped spaces, and he was definitely cramped. His wallet didn't allow for first class, so he was stuck traveling economy, which was going to be pure torture for him. At least he was in the very last row of the plane, so he didn't have to worry about getting stuck with kicking children right behind him. That was a plus, along with the fact that the seat next to him was still empty.

Since his boarding group had been one of the first ones on this time, there was still a long ways to go before all of the passengers would be on board. Although it was early in the day, he closed his eyes in effort to doze off a bit, as he had woken up far earlier than he liked to in order to be at the airport in time.

Fortunately, nobody came bothering him to move to claim the empty window seat to his left. As he was half out of it, he was vaguely aware of the flight attendant coming on the intercom to announce that they were almost fully loaded and for passengers to take their seats once they had secured their luggage.

Inuyasha was startled of his daze when he felt somebody crash into his knee. "Sorry everybody, not trying to hold you up!" a feminine voice exclaimed. He grumbled in annoyance when he felt his knee get knocked a second time.

As he lifted his head and opened his eyes, Inuyasha found himself staring at a rather attractive young woman, who was struggling to get her carry-on luggage overhead to store it. Her overstuffed carry-on must have been what hit his knee a moment ago.

"Shit, I can't get it in there!" she exclaimed desperately, standing on her tiptoes, in an attempt to reach as far and high as she could, to try and push her luggage in. Struggling with her arms up overhead like that made her shirt rise up a few inches. The sudden flash of her belly caught Inuyasha's eye.

"Miss, if you can't put the luggage in the overhead bin, it's going to need to be checked. We are departing very soon so you need to get that put away," a flight attendant called back from several aisles up.

"I got it, I promise!" the girl exclaimed, as she continued her struggles, before pausing to glance around at all of the other full bins. "Damn it!"

"Move it, you're holding us all up," Inuyasha said abruptly, as he stood up, nearly making the girl tumble backwards. He was a bit cranky from being startled out of his daze, even if it had resulted in a very pleasant view. The girl squeaked indignantly as he took the luggage from her hands and lifted it with ease, just barely managing to slide it into the compartment, which was pretty stuffed already..

"Oh. Thank you," the girl told him, as she fumbled to pull her boarding pass out. "Seat 57A. That's my window seat."

Inuyasha groaned, upon realizing that she was referring to the window seat in his row and not the empty window seat in the row ahead of him. At least he hadn't gotten up for nothing. "There ya go," he muttered, gesturing for her.

"Thanks again for the help. Sorry you had to get up and do that, but then again you would have had to get up anyway," she told him cheerfully, as she shot a glance his way. The guy that had jumped up to help her was young and actually pretty damn attractive, despite being so abrupt with her. He had long jet black hair, even longer than hers, and was dressed in baggy jeans and a black Slipknot shirt.

"Yeah, I was kind of hoping I would have the row to myself," Inuyasha replied, smirking a bit at her as he took his seat. It was a bit of a disappointment that he would no longer have the whole row,, but it could have turned out much, much worse. The girl that was now sitting next to him had long, wavy black hair, and dark blue eyes. She was young, about his age, he gauged.

"Well, sorry to disappoint. Can't always get what you wish for, now can you?" she tilted her head and grinned at him. "I'm Kagome."

"Nope, sure can't," Inuyasha replied. He buckled his seat belt and fidgeted a bit as he kicked his backpack under the seat in front of him. He knew she was staring at him, so he shot her a look. "What?"

Kagome just eyed him, her eyes flickering across his face and down to his shirt for a moment. "Usually when one person introduces themselves, the other does so in return. They're called manners."

"Well, I'm not like most people, and I'm kind of short on manners," Inuyasha snickered. He had to admit that he liked the fiery flash in her eyes as she narrowed them at him.

"Apparently," Kagome huffed, as she leaned back into her seat, muttering something else under her breath for a moment as she stared out the window. A moment later she glanced back his way. "I just figured, if we're going to be sitting next to each other for the greater part of the day, we might as well be friendly to each other. Especially since we're in such close quarters."

"Then you got stuck in the wrong damn seat, because I'm _not_ friendly," Inuyasha snickered again.

Kagome turned and gave him a hard look. His eyes darted down when he saw the tip of her tongue poke out from between her lips as they parted, while she tried to evaluate him. "I'm trying to figure out if you're actually serious or just screwing with me. What's your name?"

"Inuyasha," he replied, giving her a cocky smirk. Normally he didn't like people and just wanted to avoid them, but something about her really caught his attention, and he couldn't quite figure out what it was. So he decided he would humor her for a bit.

"Inuyasha," she repeated slowly, as her expression turned curious. She continued glancing at his face, which was boyishly handsome. The sun streaming in through the window was hitting his face at just the right angle to make his eyes light up. They were kind of hazel, a very pretty dark brown and green, making beautiful sunbursts of color. He looked fully human, but she had a hobby of studying various subject, and demons were one of them.

"You're youkai," she said at last.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed ever so slightly at that, as he kept his face neutral. "Yeah. Most humans don't use the word dog in their kids' names, ya know."

"You never know," Kagome retorted, as she eyed him right back. "I mean, in today's world, there are people naming their kids stupid shit like Hashtag, or Autumn Breeze. Have you ever been to Utah? They get crazy with names there, especially with spelling them all weird." She paused and regarded him. "You are American too, I take it. I'm from Arizona originally."

"Yeah, I'm American. Born in Montana," Inuyasha replied. He caught himself a moment later, unsure of why he was actually spilling personal information on himself. He had answered her truthfully, instead of giving her a bullshit answer like he usually did. Silently he cursed himself.

Before Kagome could respond, the flight attendants came over the intercom, their booming voices drowning out the various conversations on board, as they went over the mandatory safety briefing.

The plane started rolling out onto the tarmac, and suddenly Kagome shot forward to dig down in her backpack. "Shoot, I almost forgot to disinfect! Do you have any idea how gross these planes are? You know they don't clean them in between flights. I just get so grossed out when I think of all the germy hands that were all over the place in here."

"Haven't thought about it, but then again I'm not a weak human that's going to get sick from an airplane like that," Inuyasha retorted. He propped his head on his hand and watched with some amusement as his neighbor went crazy using her little Chlorox wipes to wipe down every surface within reach.

"Having to worry about my immune system doesn't make me weak," Kagome informed him with a sidelong glance.

Inuyasha snorted at her. "Sure it does. Weakling."

"Jerk," Kagome retorted, as she made a face at him. She finished cleaning and then turned her attention to the window, since the plane was well on its way down the runway now. This was by far her favorite part of the flight, so she pressed her nose to the window eagerly. Before long, they were officially speeding down the runway, to take off.

She kind of felt like a kid peering in through the window of a candy store, but didn't care if she looked silly. There was something so amazing about watching the surroundings as the plane picked up speed, and then the ground suddenly began to fall away. Several minutes later, when the plane was up in the clouds, she finally pulled away to relax back into her seat with a sigh.

A glance to her right made her frown, when she realized her neighbor looked absolutely miserable. He was bent over a bit, with his hands gripping his ears, and eyes tightly shut. "Inuyasha?" she asked worriedly, placing a hand on his shoulder out of concern. "You ok?"

Inuyasha grunted at her. "Fucking ears, goddamn it. Fucking popping right now."

Smirking at his colorful language, Kagome patted his shoulder again. "My ears are fine, but then again I've flown so many times I think this is natural to them. I guess yours are just more sensitive. Perhaps that makes you the….weakling." She couldn't resist the urge to throw his own insult back at him, and it earned her a glare and sneer.

"Fuck you. This shit is painful!" Inuyasha hissed loudly. "Worst fucking part of the flight."

"It's my favorite. You can see so much. I love getting pictures of the earth when going up and down," Kagome said cheerfully, as she turned to gaze back out the window. A couple of minutes later she shot the poor boy another sympathetic look. "Do you want some gum to see if that will help?"

Inuyasha wanted to just deny her outright, but he was feeling quite desperate. Anything to stop the pain right now would be a blessing. "Uh…sure…if you're offering."

"I am offering," Kagome flashed him a smile. She leaned down again to dig into her backpack and produced two packages of gum. "I'll even be generous and let you pick your flavor. Are you more of an icy-cool Winterfresh kind of guy or is Dentyne Fire Spicy Cinnamon more of your jam?"

"Gimme the Winterfresh. I refuse to eat anything that has fire in its name," Inuyasha said, wincing visibly as he imagined what kind of hell that would unleash in his mouth.

Inuyasha grinned and started to pop out a piece of the Winterfresh for him. "Not a fan of spicy, huh?" She held the piece of gum out for him to take, letting his fingers brush hers in the process.

Inuyasha made a horrible face. "Hell no. I don't know how anybody can think that burning their tastebuds off is an enjoyable experience."

"Well, you are a Montana boy. Spicy isn't usually on the menu for you Northerners," Kagome teased him, before pursing her lips thoughtfully. Judging by his more extreme reaction to the ear popping and idea of spicy food, she suspected that perhaps it was due to his demon senses and capabilities. "Hey, just asking out of curiosity. What do you really look like, when you're not forced into transformation?"

"I look like a Montana boy," Inuyasha retorted. He quickly popped the gum into his mouth and then reached to take the second piece that she offered him. Perhaps the more gum, the more effective it would be.

Kagome sighed and gave him a look. "Super informative. I meant in greater detail."

"Not gonna tell ya," Inuyasha flashed her a cocky grin, at which she just rolled her eyes.

"Fine," Kagome huffed. "So you were born in Montana? That's so funny because that's exactly where I'm heading in the end. Flying from South Africa all the way to Bozeman, since I'm moving there. After Atlanta I have a layover in Chicago on my way there."

Inuyasha just stared at her when she said that. "Are you fucking kidding me? That's exactly where I'm flying to as well. Same layover."

"No way!" Kagome laughed, clapping a hand to her mouth in shock. "What a coincidence. We are literally going from one end of the world to the other together?"

"Not together," Inuyasha huffed at her. "But yeah, crazy coincidence." He paused and thought about it for a moment, before shooting her a curious glance. "Why are you moving to Bozeman anyway? It's not that high on the list of places people want to move to. You have family there? A boyfriend?"

"No, I'm single," Kagome told him, feeling her face blush a bit for some odd reason. "Just haven't had much luck in that department."

"Ok, so no boyfriend right now," Inuyasha replied slowly. He felt a twinge of relief when she told him she was single. Not that he was interested, because he wasn't. Not at all. Nope. At least, that's what he was telling himself right now. "But why haven't you had much luck? I mean…I would think…a girl like you…"

Suddenly flustered, Inuyasha just crossed his arms over his chest and made a keh sound, which made Kagome laugh a little. "What do you mean by that? A girl like me?" she wondered, eyeing him closely.

Inuyasha shifted awkwardly, for he wasn't about to tell her that he had meant a hot girl like her. She was ridiculously attractive and he had been sure that she would have a never ending line of suitors. "I don't know, just you know, _you_!"

He was adorable when he was so flustered, Kagome thought, as she silently watched him with amusement. "I don't know why, I just haven't. I've only ever had two official boyfriends, and neither one of them lasted very long."

"Why, are you a crazy girlfriend or something?" Inuyasha raised a brow at her.

Kagome laughed at that. "No, I'm not crazy! Things just didn't work out with either one. I dated this human named Hojo in high school, but he turned out to be too dull and boring, and dumped me for being too ambitious in life. I already knew I wanted to travel a lot and have a career, and not just be a housewife popping out kids. My other boyfriend was a wolf demon named Kouga, but that barely lasted two weeks, even though he had been pursuing me for months. Probably not long enough to really consider him an official boyfriend, when we were together but he did ask me to go out and I had accepted. He dumped me because I wouldn't have sex with him right off the bat. We were both adults, and I'm definitely not opposed to premarital sex, but it has to progress naturally. I don't put out for the first date. Guess I'm just the wrong combination of old-fashioned and ambitious." She shrugged her shoulder at that.

Inuyasha gazed at her with newfound curiosity. "So…you've dated a human and a youkai. Interesting. You're open to either one?"

"Yeah," Kagome grinned. "I have no preference over either one, as long as the guy ends up being good for me. I'm sure I'll find a good guy someday. Maybe the third time's the charm."

"Yeah," Inuyasha said faintly. Shaking his head, he went back to his original question. "What about family, then?"

Kagome stiffened when he asked her again and ripped her gaze away to stare out the window. She had to bite her lip hard to stifle her tears, for the memories were still too fresh in her mind. All she could do right now was shake her head painfully.

Inuyasha just shut his mouth, for her reaction told him he had hit a very sore spot, and he actually felt a pang of guilt. He just gazed at the back of her head, as she remained turned away from him. He swallowed hard, for he was pretty sure she was crying, judging by the way she reached up to her eyes a few times. "I didn't know…" he said helplessly, just to break the silence.

"It's ok," Kagome said at last, slowly turning away from the window to sit normally in her seat. She was pretty sure her eyes were still red so she made sure to remain facing the seat in front of her, not wanting him to see her like that. Right now she was super embarrassed and was worried he was judging her or completely turned off now. "I didn't mean to…sorry…"

"Don't need to apologize, I just wasn't minding my own business like I should," Inuyasha huffed at her.

Kagome dared to glance his way ever so slightly. She was slightly worried that was going to be the end of their conversation, and she didn't know how to respond, so she decided to just ignore it and keep talking. "I'm moving there because I wanted change. I've never lived in Montana but I've always dreamed of moving to that part of the country somewhere. So it just kind of fell into place. What about you? Are you actually from Bozeman?"

"No," Inuyasha shook his head. "I was born a little farther away, up near Kalispell."

"So why move to Bozeman? Girlfriend?" Kagome directed his previous questions back at him. She was suddenly aware of how curious she was on that subject

Inuyasha snorted a laugh at that with a roll of his eyes. "No, of course not. I'm single. Mainly moving there for work, rather than go back to Kalispell right now."

"Why do you say of course not? You're just happy living the bachelor lifestyle? A girlfriend would put a damper on things? You just prefer to enjoy the ladies casually without commitment?" Kagome pressed, before blushing. Perhaps she was a bit too curious on the subject. Whoops.

Next to her, Inuyasha just shifted uncomfortably. If she had any idea what he really looked like, she wouldn't be asking all those damn, pesky questions. He was not going to let her know how undesirable he really was. "No to all of the above," he told her at last. "I just don't have one. Can't you tell that my not so charming personality keeps them all away?"

Kagome just smirked at him. "I thought it was kind of charming, but perhaps I'm just weird like that."

Inuyasha quickly turned to face her. "Yeah, you are weird. Something must be wrong with your brain."

"Shut up," Kagome laughed, as she finally turned to look at him.

"You shut up," Inuyasha retorted, giving her a wry grin. They sat in silence for a while after that. As they were now up in the air and the plane was traveling smoothly, the flight attendants had started to roll out their carts. Kagome took a cup of coffee and a small juice while Inuyasha got a Coke. When the next flight attendant passed by a couple of minutes later, she handed them each a tray with mostly unappetizing looking food concoctions of some sort.

"I hate airplane food," Kagome frowned. She poked around at the contents of her tray, and decided that the fruit was safe to eat, at least.

"So do I. That's why I came prepared," Inuyasha said smugly. He had inspected the food he was given, for he wasn't one to turn down free food. However it just looked gross to him, and even he wasn't willing to eat it, which was saying something. Twisting his body a bit, he was able to reach down and pull his backpack out from under the seat.

Kagome watched with great interest as he pulled a bag out, that was full of wrapped food. "Wow, prepared is right. I've got like, two granola bars and a huge bottle of water that I filled up past security." She watched as Inuyasha grabbed a slice of pizza and started to unwrap it. Just then, her stomach growled loud enough for them both to hear, so she looked away in embarrassment.

"Hungry?" Inuyasha laughed at her, after taking a couple of large bites. She just blushed and looked down at her tray, pushing the gooey egg like substance around with her fork. The bag of food he brought was on his lap under the tray table, so he pulled it out and set it on top, pushing the sides of the bag open. "I've got plenty, if you want some actual food to eat instead of that shit they just passed out."

"You'll share with me?" Kagome's eyes lit up. She leaned over and started to dig through the bag after he nodded and gestured for her to have at it. There was pizza, sandwiches, cookies, beef jerky, and various chips inside.

Inuyasha shrugged and continued to devour his pizza. "Might as well. Just because I really don't want to listen to your stomach growl the entire flight, ya know. That will get really annoying really fast. Food will make it shut up."

Kagome laughed at him and grabbed some pizza. "You really are charming, you know that?"


	2. Chapter 2 Lessons in Anatomy

"I can't believe you forgot to bring a water bottle. That's like the golden rule of flying. It's super important to stay hydrated, because flying can leave you dehydrated," Kagome informed Inuyasha. She had pulled out the oversized bottle from her backpack, and was holding it up as if she was presenting something fabulous. It was fabulous, actually, because it was going to be well-needed for the super long flight.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her. "I know that, wench. It has to do with the change in temperature and pressure. Plus they do circulate the air from outside into here, and there's no moisture out there."

"You're smart," Kagome grinned at him, a little impressed.

"Does that surprise you?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and gave her a look. "Most people wrongfully and automatically assume I'm an idiot just because I'm a…never mind."

"A what?" Kagome asked curiously.

"I said never mind," Inuyasha groaned, shaking his head. He almost slipped and said the H word in front of her, and that was not something he wanted to reveal about himself. At least not right now. "It just doesn't matter, ok? People look at me and make an awful lot of assumptions, and they're almost never true."

Kagome propped her chin on her hand as she leaned over to size him up. His green brown eyes followed her as she gazed back at him. "What are you staring at me like that for?" he asked her gruffly.

She just shrugged. "Just trying to wonder what kind of assumptions people might make. I suppose my first assumption, from when we first met like an hour or so ago, was that you're kind of rough, grouchy, and pretty standoffish."

Inuyasha smirked at her. "Well, shit. You're actually not wrong at all with your assumptions."

Kagome laughed at him. "Well, perhaps not, but I now think you just like to put on an antisocial front, and while those may be true traits, there's a lot more to you than you show."

"I'm complicated," Inuyasha grinned at her.

"To say the least," Kagome rolled her eyes. "What assumptions did you have about me?"

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he stared at her. "That you're little Miss Popular, a bit of a party girl, who thrives on gossip and worships whoever the latest trash celebrity is."

"Oh, hell no!" Kagome exclaimed, clapping a hand to her mouth. "Your assumptions were so far from the truth it's not funny. Wow. I'm almost insulted that you ever thought I was shallow like that, even if we don't know each other!" She couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it was.

"Clearly I'm not very skilled at assumption making like you," Inuyasha snorted. "Did I at least get any of them right?"

"No!" Kagome exclaimed. They quieted down, and after a moment her eyes glinted again. "So people assume you're an idiot because you're a what?" She dared to push his buttons a bit, just to see how he would react. She was getting the impression that he liked their playful banter deep down, despite the constant huffiness.

Inuyasha groaned internally when she brought up that near slip-up once again. "Because I'm a metalhead," he told her simply. "Clearly because I have long hair and wear metal band shirts half the time, I'm a slacker, an idiot, that I do nothing with my life but sit around smoking pot all day."

Kagome smirked a bit at that and glanced around to make sure that nobody was actually listening to their conversation. The person in front of them definitely had a headset on and was watching something on their airplane screen. The people across the aisle were asleep, and the other she could see also had headphones on and were bobbing their heads to music.

"Well, you do look like a stereotypical metalhead right now, and sadly that's a pretty common misconception. I suppose we've determined you're not an idiot. Do you smoke?"

"Nope, can't tolerate the smell," Inuyasha snickered for a second and pointed at his nose. "My senses are dulled thanks to being human form at the moment, but when I'm youkai like normal, I can smell things far beyond your abilities. It can be a blessing and a curse."

"What other abilities do you have?" Kagome asked him curiously.

"I'm super strong, and extremely fast. I can jump pretty far as well. I have a super fast metabolism as well, which is awesome because I have this amazing ability to be able to eat large amounts of ramen in one sitting. I get to eat a lot and still keep my abs."

"Can I see them?" Kagome found herself blurting out before realizing just what she asked, and instantly turned red.

Inuyasha looked confused for a second. "See what? My abs?" He found himself flushing a bit at the idea. At least he wasn't the only one embarrassed right now, judging by his tomato hued neighbor. "Hm, no. I'm not lifting my shirt up on an airplane."

"Sorry, I totally didn't mean to just ask that out of nowhere. Mouth was moving faster than my brain," Kagome muttered sheepishly. She had made such a total fool of herself right now, she wished she could just disappear. However there was nowhere to run off to, so she was forced to sit next to the hot young guy that apparently had abs, and pretend like nothing had happened.

"So what were you doing in South Africa? Just vacation? Work? School? How long?" Kagome blurted out next, desperate to change the subject. They were going to have a nice, normal conversation now, right? No more discussing abs, even if she really did want to see them.

Inuyasha blinked and tried to catch all of that. "Uh, two years, actually. Both work and school, I guess. I just got my masters here and was working out in the field. I'm a biologist."

"Masters, damn!" Kagome grinned, sitting up straighter to eyeball him with appreciation. "You are smart!"

"Yeah, I know," was Inuyasha's retort. "What about you? What brought you to South Africa? It's not the best place for a young, _weak_ human girl to travel alone."

Kagome just glared at him, only pretending to be mad, as his tone was light and teasing. "I may be just a _weak_ little human girl to you, but I survived without harm, as you can see. I'm twenty years old now, so I'm not exactly a child, you know. I wanted to do something for my twenty first birthday, which is actually in a month from now, so I decided to go on a vacation. Somewhere that I could take a lot of pictures."

"Oh, so you came down here just to do it for the 'gram?" Inuyasha smirked. "You travel around to get pictures that will get you lots of likes and followers? Try to make a living off of that like half the girls your age, instead of going to college?"

"No," Kagome huffed and pointed a finger at him. "You're making more assumptions about me, and you're still completely wrong. I do have a Bachelor's degree, thank you very much. I graduated college almost a year ago. Photography is one of my main passions and I definitely don't do it for the gram. I love animals and South Africa has always been a dream of mine, so I came here, explored a bit, went to Kruger. My main interest in photography is wildlife and scenery."

Inuyasha perked up at that. "Oh, really? I was working at Kruger. It's an amazing place, and definitely one of the best experiences of my entire life. I'm not much of a photographer, but I've got a damn good memory, and the things I've seen…"

Kagome couldn't help but smile at him, at the way his face lit up with genuine happiness. "I'm sure you have a million stories to tell, and I'm kind of jealous, since I've only been here for two weeks, not two years."

"Oh, you have no idea," Inuyasha chuckled. "So how did you graduate college at twenty anyway?"

"I graduated high school at seventeen and was already taking college courses by then. I skipped a grade in middle school since I was so advanced. Took a lot of advanced placement classes and graduated at the top of my class. Pretty much all I did during my teen and early adult years was study, and that didn't leave much time for anything else," Kagome informed him.

Inuyasha gazed at her with more newfound appreciation. She wasn't just a pretty face, she was also intelligent, and that was something that made him all the more interested in her. "So, you do have some brains up in there after all."

"Yes, I have _a_ brain, and I know how to use it quite well," Kagome smiled sweetly at him. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Twenty five," Inuyasha replied. "My birthday was at the beginning of the year."

"Aww, you're only twenty five? In youkai terms, you're still a baby," Kagome giggled.

Inuyasha glared at her and huffed. "I'm a fully grown man. I'm not a fucking _baby_."

Kagome laughed. "I know, I'm just teasing you." She grabbed her bottle and took a long sip, giving Inuyasha's tray table a sidelong glance. He had long finished his Coke, and was currently toying with the can. It wasn't even a full size can, just one of the mini ones. "Do you want a drink? I have more than enough water to get me through this flight. You'll have to share the bottle with me if you want some, since my cup is kind of full of garbage right now."

"Uh, sure, thanks. As long as you don't mind drinking after me," Inuyasha replied. He had been feeling thirsty after the soda and pizza, and had been debating about asking for an extra water cup the next time a flight attendant passed by.

"It's fine. You seem rather healthy," Kagome replied. Her knee had been fidgeting a bit, and she found it hard to keep still. "Hey, Inuyasha, hate to bother you, but do you mind getting up so I can run to the bathroom?"

"Didn't you go before the plane took off?" he raised a brow at her. They had barely been airborne for two hours at this point.

"Yes, of course. I always do. But I always feel like I have to pee whenever I fly. Too much information, sorry," Kagome gave him a rueful grin. She was a bit embarrassed, but it was normal body functions. Nothing she could help.

Inuyasha sighed and got to his feet. In all honestly he wasn't too bothered about getting up, since it gave him the opportunity to stretch his legs for a moment. Economy sucked when you were tall. She was only in the bathroom for what seemed like a split second before coming back out to take her seat back. "What the hell, can you pee any faster?" he exclaimed as he gave her an odd look.

"Maybe," Kagome grinned, glancing up at her new friend. He was tall, she realized, a full head taller than she was. Tall and lean, she noted, as she watched him stretch and arch his back for a second longer, before stooping to get back into his seat. _'Wipe your mouth,'_ she told herself, as she eyed his flexing biceps. Not wanting to get caught ogling him, she quickly turned and glanced down at her hands.

They sat quietly for a few, before Inuyasha dared to initiate conversation. "So, um, did you get some good wildlife shots when you went to Kruger?"

Kagome glanced back his way, flashing him a happy grin. "Yeah! I got a ton of good ones. Do you want to see some of them? I mean, I'm sure all my pictures are of what you saw there every day probably, but if you were bored and interested…"

"Bored to tears, yes. Interested, hmmmm," Inuyasha found it amusing, the way she pouted at that. "Of course I'm interested, silly. I'm a wildlife biologist after all. Do you even have to ask?"

"Ok, well, just didn't want to assume that you found me and my hobbies all that interesting," Kagome lamented. Her laptop was in her backpack, so she dug it out set it up. "I haven't gone through and organized my files yet, so they may be a bit of a mess, but here is everything from my trip," she told him. She dragged the folder around to bring up her files and pushed the computer towards Inuyasha so he could see. "Here, you can just take my computer if it's easier that way," she told him.

Inuyasha put his tray table back down and set the laptop in front of him, angling it towards Kagome so she could see the screen as well, since she was leaning over his way to watch. "All these?" he raised a brow at her, upon noticing the file count. She just grinned sheepishly and nodded. "Damn, girl. This might take up the rest of our time on this flight."

"Nah, there's not that many. I had gone through before and deleted my blurry pictures," Kagome informed him.

"At least you have a Mac, so that's a plus in my book," Inuyasha declared. He started going through the images, feeling a bit impressed by the quality of the pictures she had taken. A close up shot of a lioness's face made him pause. It was taken after a kill, for she was licking her lip and had blood smeared all over her face. "Holy shit, that's a good shot. What kind of camera were you using?"

"Canon with a 150-600 millimeter lens," Kagome declared proudly. "I love that shot so much."

"Yeah. You're actually halfway decent at this," he teased her, as he continued going through her pictures, stopping at one of a leopard lounging in a tree, all four legs dangling down on either side of the branch. "Leopards are one of my favorites. They're actually the strongest big cat here, pound for pound, even though they're the smallest. Similar weight to cheetahs, but cheetahs are taller, since they're built like greyhounds, basically."

"I love cheetahs. They're always been one of my favorite big cats. I even got a shot of a couple in there somewhere," Kagome replied happily. She had so many amazing memories, and was so glad she had managed to get a ton of good shots to document her adventures.

"Nice. You don't often see cheetahs down here," Inuyasha told her. "Usually they're more north of South Africa, but they can be spotted in some areas. They're my other favorite, because of their amazing speed. I actually have some pictures myself with cheetahs."

"Show me later?" Kagome asked eagerly. She shifted her weight a bit, as she leaned her elbow on the armrest, which was getting a little uncomfortable. "So what animals were you mainly working with?"

"Big cats. They were my main focus of my studies," Inuyasha admitted.

Kagome let out a short laugh. "So, the dog demon has a thing for the kitties? Aww, how cute is that!?"

"Hah. Yeah, they're amazing predators," Inuyasha flashed a grin at her.

"I want to go to Asia sometime and see snow leopards one day," Kagome commented, as he slowly went through her leopard pictures.

"Yeah, good luck with that. They're very difficult to find since they are so elusive and live at high altitude. I would love to go study them myself, so maybe one day. Unlike you, I would have a much easier time tracking them, given my senses," he told her.

"Snow leopards are one of my other favorites. I kind of like them more than the regular leopard," Kagome said.

"You know that they're actually more closely related to tigers than leopards, right? The common ancestor of the big cats split off millions of years ago, leading to tigers and snow leopards being closely related, and the other branch split into jaguars, lions, and leopards. They're the only species in the genus Panthera. Cheetahs and cougars each have their own. Don't mind me, I'm not trying to bore you with this scientific talk," Inuyasha muttered sheepishly.

Kagome grinned at him, for she liked hearing him talk. He probably had no idea how cute he looked when he was talking about something he really liked. Plus, a smart guy was a sexy guy. "No, you're not boring me at all. I really like listening to you talk about the big kitties. Share as much knowledge as you can while we're looking."

"So only while we're looking? I can't share my knowledge when we aren't viewing pictures?" Inuyasha smirked at her. He was thrilled that she was actually interested in his ramblings, since most people didn't have the same appreciation that he did. It was nice to find somebody who had common interests for once.

"I might tolerate your chatter at other times too," she replied. As he continued flipping through her pictures, throwing random facts out here and there, she hung onto his every word. When they were looking at pictures of zebras, he told her the story about how he almost got run over by a bolting group of zebras, which was apparently called a zeal or a dazzle. Who know?!

"So, you're still going to be going out studying animals back in Montana, right?" Kagome asked, gazing at him.

"Yeah," he told her, turning his head to glance her way. "Planning on studying bears and mountain lions. Not as exotic as the African animals, but still super awesome."

Kagome fidgeted her hands for a moment. "That's cool," she said, kicking herself for sounding so lame right now. "Do you ever think…" she began, glancing his way when he looked over at her when she paused. Furrowing her brows, she continued nervously. "Uh, that maybe I could tag along with you sometime? Like out in the wild somewhere?"

Inuyasha raised a brow at her, taken by surprise at her question. "That would involve us meeting up outside of this plane, you know."

"Oh, gee, I thought we would just go out and stalk some mountain lions and grizzlies right here, _Inuyasha_," she retorted, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Well, you thought wrong," Inuyasha snickered at her, and the way she said his name, before turning his attention back to the laptop.

Kagome's heart dropped a bit and she looked away, feeling stupid for asking. "Ok, I guess I did."

Inuyasha snuck a glance her way again, holding back his laugh, as he let her sit and sulk for a moment. "Do you have good hiking boots and can you handle steep, rocky terrain and mountains?"

"Not right now, and I have hiked a bit in Arizona, so it depends how steep we're talking, I guess. So is that a no, then?" Kagome replied.

"Hm," Inuyasha put a finger to his chin, as he pretended to think. "I still am in the process of getting a job in Bozeman, so I obviously don't know the rules of my future employer, but generally while on the job I'm not going to be able to run around with somebody tagging along that doesn't work with me."

"Look, it's fine. I get it, ok?" Kagome sighed. "Didn't mean to bother you by asking."

Inuyasha snorted quietly. "Just so you know, there's an REI in Bozeman that will sell the hiking boots. Or you can always go to a locally owned shop instead. If you aren't familiar with the area or that type of environment, I would recommend hiking with somebody who does. I've explored quite a bit of Western Montana."

Catching his drift, Kagome grinned happily. "Great! So we'll be keeping in touch then?"

"If you would like me to be your guide, then keeping in touch will kind of be necessary. Unless you want to see if we magically cross paths again at random," Inuyasha replied.

"Can I have your phone, then? I'll put my number in it, while thinking about it. Just so I don't forget to ask later," Kagome asked, trying not to appear too eager, for fear of scaring him off. When he dug his phone from his pocket and handed it to her, she quickly input her number into his and then scrolled up through the contact list to the top to get his number to input into her phone. "You have so few contacts in here," she couldn't help but comment.

Inuyasha sighed and shrugged. "Yeah, well, I'm not in the habit of exchanging numbers with people. Pretty much everybody in my phone is family, or associated with family, although there's a couple of close friends in there as well."

"I don't have a ton of contacts either," Kagome admitted. "Never really had a lot of close friends and lost touch with people I knew in high school once I graduated. We just went our separate ways, once we weren't forced to be in the same rooms as each other all day. There. Now we each have a new friend." She paused and shot a look at him. "We can call each other friends, right? Even if we just met?"

"I don't think there's any laws saying we can't," Inuyasha told her wryly.

"Perfect. Now we are officially friends. Just don't block or ghost me, after we get to Montana, please. I'll be very disappointed," Kagome said, giving him a hard look.

"Damn. There goes my plan," Inuyasha teased her.

"Jerk," Kagome made a face at him. Turning their attention back to the laptop, she watched as he kept on going through the images once he stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

"Whoaaa!" Inuyasha exclaimed, his finger poised just over the next button, frozen in place. As soon as he saw the picture, his eyes widened as he stared for a moment.

Kagome felt her face flush a bit as soon as the picture popped up onto her screen, for she had totally forgotten those other pictures has been stuck in that folder. She quickly debated grabbing her computer from him, but part of her wanted to let him look so she could study his reaction.

Inuyasha bit his lip as he slowly clicked through the pictures,. They were of his brand new friend, wearing nothing but a little red bikini, as she posed on the beach. Right now it was taking all of his effort not to actually drool. She was kneeling on the sand, as a wave came crashing onto shore, the foam splashing around her legs and feet. Her hair was down in the picture, and all wavy and wild with the wind.

"You model?" Inuyasha managed to tear his gaze away from the computer, to turn and look at his now slightly bashful friend.

"No, I've never tried. I just ran across a photographer and was talking and these pictures are my failed attempt at trying to look sexy," Kagome blushed a little as she spoke. There was a fiery flicker in his eyes, and she had definitely noticed it when he gazed at her.

"Yeah, you failed alright," Inuyasha retorted, his voice a little thin. He turned back to her laptop and started to go through the rest. Failed? What the hell? Mission totally accomplished, and he was not about to tell her that. Swallowing hard, he made sure to memorize each and every bikini shot. That closeup of her upper body in profile, where she was pushing her hair back from her face? Yeah, completely drool worthy.

Kagome was busy keenly watching Inuyasha pore over her pictures, decidedly keeping quiet how he was definitely clicking through these a lot slower than the animal photos.

"Flowery tattoo, huh? Too bad there's not a better picture showing all of it," Inuyasha commented, as he came to the last of her bikini pictures, which was most unfortunate. He had noticed it in a few of the pictures, but the ones showing more of her body were taken from her non-inked side.

"Well, if you ever let me see those famous abs one day, I might let you look at my tattoo. Just not here, because I'm not about to lift my shirt up on an airplane," Kagome teased him, using his words from earlier.

"Noted," Inuyasha smirked. Now that the bikini pictures were sadly over, he found himself looking at a series of giraffe images. "That's a really good one of the baby. They're so cool. I got to help deal with an orphaned baby a year ago."

"You're making me so jealous. That kind of job just sounds so fun," Kagome sighed with envy.

Inuyasha nodded. "It is, and it's why I chose my field. I'd rather be around a lot of animals instead of people. It's definitely not easy though, and gets dangerous at times. Oh, hold up, now this picture is the real winner!"

"Oh my god! Shit, I forgot that was in there too!" Kagome exclaimed, when she noticed he was gawking at the picture she had taken herself the last day she spent on the beach. She was facing away from the camera, arms up in a big victorious v, wearing a bikini bottom that didn't cover her entire ass. Yeah, most likely her face was a tomato right now. Note to self, always put sexy or revealing images in their own folder from now on.

Unable to hide his grin, Inuyasha used his fingers to zoom in on the touchpad, honing in on a very particular area of the photo. "Well, Kagome, while I'm on a roll with dropping facts at random, I'd like to inform you that the gluteus maximus is the biggest, heaviest muscle in the body. However there's still debate if it's the strongest or if the masseter is actually the strongest. What do you think? Just look at _that_!"

"Inuyasha, _stop_!" Kagome exclaimed, trying to hold back her laughter, for he was suddenly zooming in and out on her half exposed ass. Honestly she didn't know if she was actually completely mortified or if she really found the entire thing to be absolutely hilarious. She reached over to try and press the button to go to the next image, but he quickly caught her wrist with his hand to keep hers away. His touch was light, as his fingers looped her small wrist, but quite strong all the same. They playfully fought over control of the laptop, both of them laughing at each other's antics.

"Nope, I wasn't done discussing anatomy," Inuyasha teased her a bit, mostly because she was laughing so much herself, and because she had obviously been willingly walking around in public like that. If she had really been bothered by him looking at a picture of her half bare ass, he would have just secretly ogled and moved on. She did have a very nice ass. "By the way, is this the same bikini you had on in those other pictures?"

"Yeah," Kagome admitted. Her eyes flicked down to her wrist, which was still in his warm grasp, as he held her hand still. Eventually he let go of her, and she found herself letting her fingers trail over the spot he had been holding, for it had tingled slightly. It was weird the effect that he had on her, for all of his little tiny looks and touches made her feel all fluttery inside. He could be a bit of a jerk at times, but she definitely had a crush on him.

_A/N Just trying to have some fun banter here, since there is only so much you can actually do on an airplane._


	3. Chapter 3 The Great Reveal

_A/N: Yay, more plane stuff for now. Working at getting them off of it though so they can continue their fun elsewhere, I swear! Still rated M for bad fucking language. Oh, and yes, the entire story has been completely written already, so it won't be left unfinished. I will just upload every few days, after I go back over each chapter to tweak it a little._

"Inuyashaaaa," Kagome said sweetly, batting her eyes at him a little as she propped her elbow on the armrest that divided them.

"Whaaaaatt?" Inuyasha grumbled, raising a brow as he turned to face her. His eyes gazed into hers for a moment before flicking down to her cute nose.

Kagome tried to hide her sheepish grin and failed. "Can I get up again to run to the bathroom?"

Inuyasha's expression immediately deadpanned. "You have _got_ to be kidding me. You must have the world's smallest bladder. I'm taking your water away while you're gone."

"I'm sorry!" Kagome laughed. "We can always trade seats if you want."

"No, I just feel way too cramped at the window," he shook his head and sighed, as he got up once again. Having to get up again wasn't all that bad, really. It was nice just to have a reason to jump up, since he had a tendency to get tired of sitting for long periods of time. Plus it was just better for the body, to help keep circulation going. As expected, Kagome was returning to her seat just a moment later.

As Inuyasha sat down after continuing to stretch for a moment longer, Kagome eyed him when he took his seat. Economy seats were cramped enough for someone her height, so she couldn't imagine how much it was sucking for him. He had to be right around six feet tall, she guessed. The poor guy looked miserable when he sat down, as he struggled to get his legs situated and had his arms tucked in to his sides as he apparently didn't want to hug the armrest. She could tell he was trying to keep within his boundaries, but it made her feel bad.

"Hey, would it be better if we just put the armrest up? So you don't have to feel so squished?" Kagome wondered. She reached over and pushed it up without waiting for his answer.

Inuyasha just gave her a surprised look. "Um, yeah, I guess. Squished is an understatement though." He looked down at the now undivided space between them. "You sure you don't mind doing that though?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I had a problem with it," Kagome grinned. To her delight, Inuyasha shifted and started to relax a bit, as he got more comfortable.

"Do you want to watch a movie? They had a good amount to choose from, at least on the flight here," Kagome asked a few moments later. "I have earbuds we can share, if you don't have any."

"You're awful generous," Inuyasha commented. He briefly wondered if she was so friendly like this with every guy she happened to meet, of it was just him. By now he was well aware of his growing attraction to her, but he was still unsure of how she felt about him. It made him feel a bit guilty, because even if she did find him attractive, she was only aware of his human form, and that wasn't how he appeared about ninety nine percent of the time. He was still fearful of how she would react when she saw him for who he really was, and that thought remained nagging at the back of his mind.

Absentmindedly, he started to play with his beaded necklace. Normally he hated wearing it, but youkai had special laws to follow when flying, so it wasn't like he had much of a choice at the moment. He briefly entertained the idea of what life would be like if he was truly human, and if their chance meeting on this plane would have played out the same.

"Thank you, I try. So, wanna watch? They have The Lion King!" Kagome exclaimed. She pointed to the screen and turned to him with wide eyes. "My childhood! It's especially fitting considering where we started at and our previous entertainment. What do you say?"

"Sure," Inuyasha replied. He had been so out of the loop with movies in general, he hadn't even realized there was an apparent live action version of The Lion King. He had watched it quite a few times as a young boy, and it was probably one of the reasons he had chosen his current career path. He took the ear bud that Kagome handed him and stuck it in his left ear, while she used the right.

By the time the movie ended, Kagome realized with a start that she had scooted closer to Inuyasha, and was rather close to his side. Her heart fluttering like mad, she slowly made herself ease off of him, hoping he wouldn't notice. Since he was busy stretching his arms up and hadn't commented on it, she figured he hadn't.

They end up watching another movie, this time it was Inuyasha's pick. He chose the latest Avengers. Having been sitting in the airplane seat for hours now, Kagome found herself getting sleepy, and before she was even aware of it, she started nodding off towards the end of the movie. It had just gotten so hard to keep her eyes open.

Beside her, Inuyasha said nothing, and didn't bother to move when she started to lean onto his shoulder. Had it been anybody else, he would have knocked them awake and told them to give him his space, but he found that he didn't mind it all that much. As she napped, he closed his eyes as well to try and doze off himself.

When Kagome finally woke rather suddenly, she blushed a little when she realized her cheek was pressed onto something rather warm. That warm object being Inuyasha's upper arm. As she froze with realization of that, she also became well aware that her chin felt rather wet. _'Oh my god oh my god oh my god,'_ she thought with sheer horror, as she quickly wiped the line of spit that was hanging from her chin.

_'I drooled on him. I fucking drooled on him!'_ Kagome thought as she started to panic upon sitting up. Her eyes were wide and wild as she realized that the sleeve of his t-shirt had a decent sized wet spot on it. Frantically searching for one of the napkins she had held onto from earlier, she located it from the seat pocket and quickly dabbed at his shirt and upper arm, as if that would help. It didn't.

"What are you doing?" Inuyasha cracked an eye at her, upon feeling his new friend rub his upper arm. He had been half asleep, stirring a bit when she first lifted her head, and was now mostly alert.

"Uhhhhh…." Kagome said intelligently, as she sat there frozen, napkin in her hand in midair.

Inuyasha reached for his arm, where she had been rubbing, and felt the wet fabric. "Did you drool on me?" When she didn't answer, and just stared at him wide-eyed, he rolled his eyes and groaned. "Of course you fucking did. You fucking _drooled_ on me."

Kagome turned about five shades darker as she blushed and covered her mouth with her hands. "I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm not a drooler when I sleep, but maybe since I was sitting upright with my head tilted. Well, mostly upright, since I was resting on you, apparently. Ok, I'm going to shut up and go die now. I've made a big enough fool of myself on this fucking flight and it's not even halfway over."

"That you have," Inuyasha nodded at her in agreement. The airplane seat had not been the least bit comfortable to sleep in, so he had to stretch and roll his neck and shoulders for a moment.

"You don't hate me now, do you?" Kagome asked, half kidding but half worrying all at the same time. She wouldn't blame him if he did. Drooling on a hot guy was far more embarrassing than having him goof off with her bikini pictures earlier.

"I might," Inuyasha teased her. "But I'm still talking to you, aren't I? I can't wait to find out what other embarrassing things are going to happen to you on this flight."

"I'm really that horrible, right?" Kagome managed to laugh.

Inuyasha just nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

The flight attendants were in the process of making their way down the aisle again, giving out more refreshments and food. It was sandwiches with cookies and pretzels this time, and actually wasn't entirely half bad. Inuyasha and Kagome continued their 'getting to know each other' conversation, which was full of playful banter and half-hearted insults.

Inuyasha dug through his food stash again, since eating was a good way to help pass the time. The damn plane seat was getting super uncomfortable, so he got up to stretch his legs again and run off to the bathroom, just to do something. Upon her friend dropping back into his seat a moment later, Kagome wiped her hands as she finished swallowing her last bite. "Oh, I meant to say that I was going to go next, sorry!"

"I just sat down!" Inuyasha groaned. He was feeling lazy right now and didn't want to bother moving.

"Sorry, but can I get out?" Kagome gave him a sheepish grin.

"Sure, go for it," Inuyasha grunted, gesturing towards the aisle. Kagome glanced at his legs and gave him a questioning look. "What?" he smirked at her. "If you have to go, feel free to crawl on out!" He was only kidding, and was about to get to his feet, when she gave him a look and got up. He watched her with amusement as she high stepped between his legs, facing him as she tried to maneuver between his body and the back of the seats in front of them.

"Don't trip," Inuyasha snickered at her, moving his knee a bit as she tried to scoot over him, making her do just that. She let out a squeal as she fell forward, catching herself with a well-placed hand on his chest.

"You are such an ass," Kagome laughed, making a face at him as she caught herself. He totally did that on purpose! Did she mind, though? Not at all…

When she came back out a moment later, Inuyasha was standing with his arm resting against the overhead storage to prop himself up. "Figured you made enough of a fool of yourself for one day," he grinned as he waited for her to take her seat.

"Ha," Kagome mumbled under her breath, as she plopped down. The remainder of the flight wasn't terrible, just long. Most of the time was spent watching movies together, although they chatted off and on between films. By the time the plane landed in Atlanta, they were both dying to leap out of their seats and stretch their legs for real.

They had a good five hours or so to kill, so there was no rush to run off and find the next gate. "Hey, Inuyasha, I can trust you to hang out here and not run off with my stuff, right?" Kagome asked, as they veered off to a vacant seating area.

"Maybe," Inuyasha replied with a sly grin. "I am extremely fast, though."

"Great, I'm glad to hear that. I'll put my money on you if you ever end up in a race, then. I'll be right back," Kagome flashed him a grin before bouncing off. By now she was well aware that he preferred to answer with sarcasm instead of honestly admitting anything that showed he was a good, trustworthy friend. The line at the bathroom was long, so she stood there for several long minutes as it slowly moved along. When she returned to where she had left Inuyasha with all of their bags, she saw him put his phone away as he had been chatting on it.

"Had to call my Mom," he told her. "Your turn to watch the bags." They exchanged places as he darted off for a few. Upon his return, he saw her sitting there, glancing down at the floor. For some reason she looked a little sad, but she just blinked and brightened up when he made his presence known. "Do you wanna, um, grab something to eat? Once we go through customs? There's a ton of options here. We can pretty much go anywhere in the airport."

"Sure, I'm starving," Kagome agreed. They quickly followed the signs to where they needed to go. Inuyasha led the way, as his long legs had him naturally walking ahead of her. She was a bit tired and sore from sitting, but managed to keep up. "You know, if you run off, at least I have your phone number," she commented.

Inuyasha turned and gave her a cocky grin. "You're assuming that I would actually answer or respond, if you tried to contact me."

"Wow. Burn," Kagome winced playfully.

The customs and security checkpoints went by rather quickly, since it was efficiently organized, and soon they were on their way to freely explore the various terminals. It was Kagome's first time at the Atlanta airport, and she was astounded by the sheer size. They ultimately decided to go to a food court two terminals over, where there seemed to be more of a variety of what they wanted. She ended up getting a grilled turkey sandwich, and headed towards the far end of the seating area, where they had agreed to meet back up.

Kagome spotted Inuyasha sitting at a small table along the edge, so she quickly made a beeline, struggling slightly as she maneuvered her carryon through the maze of tables and chairs. As they ate, she shot him a few curious glances, trying to be discreet. "So, now that we're off the plane, are you going to let me see what you really look like?"

Inuyasha just shook his head, as he was in the middle of swallowing. "Wasn't planning on it. Besides, there's just too many people around."

"Oh. Well, we could always go somewhere out of the way, where it's more private?" Kagome suggested.

"No!" was Inuyasha's short, terse reply, which made Kagome jump from being startled. He sighed with frustration when she winced for real, for hadn't intended for that to be so abrupt. "Look, I just have my reasons for not wanting to take this necklace off, ok?" He tugged at the beads around his neck for emphasis.

Kagome sighed and glanced down for a moment. "Ok. I wasn't trying to pry or be pushy. Am I the problem though? I mean, if not for me being here, would you have taken it off by now?"

Her question stopped him in his tracks, and all he could do was stare at her, as she waited for him to answer. "I…" he began, and then glanced away. "Yeah. I would have."

"Ok," was all she said.

Inuyasha groaned, for he knew that it wasn't just 'ok.' He might not know women all that well, but he knew that a simple ok was a red flag to look out for. "Look, the issues are all with me, alright? I don't like transforming this way when there are lots of people around, and I'm worried what you'll think once you see me. That's the big problem."

Kagome finally looked up and held his gaze. His green brown eyes looked rather tormented, as he stared back at her. "So…you're afraid I'll judge you if I see what you really look like? You're afraid I'll just run off and refuse to speak to you or something?" As she continued staring into his eyes, she realized that she had nailed it.

"I have seen youkai before, Inuyasha. Plenty of them. I know you all look very different from us humans, some far more so than others, but you're still a person. Maybe I want to see you completely natural. I'm going to have to eventually, if we actually do intend to continue to associate with each other once we get to Bozeman."

"Yeah, but we literally just met, less than a day ago," Inuyasha replied, in attempt to grasp onto any reasoning that would allow him to prolong his revealing himself.

"Exactly," Kagome held his gaze steadily. "So, if you think that there is any potential issue that I might have with the way you look, then wouldn't you rather just get it over with now? Don't you think it would be a lot worse if we developed a deeper friendship before you let me see your true self, and I freaked out and ran off further down the line?"

Inuyasha tightened his jaw as he gazed at her. She did have a point, goddamn it. Normally he didn't give two flying fucks what anybody thought about him, because it is what it is, and he had no problem shrugging off those who had those issues. With her though, he had developed this sudden, crazy attraction, and the idea of being shunned was going to sting a lot more than it normally would. "Fine," he ground out through his teeth. "After we finish eating. We will go somewhere out of the way where I won't have a fucking audience."

"Perfect!" Kagome said happily.

"Crazy bitch," he muttered under his breath, as he noticed the way she instantly perked up when he agreed. He tried not to grin as he eyed her discreetly.

"I heard that," Kagome told him in a sing-song tone.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and made a grumpy face. He was going to regret this. Yeah, he was definitely going to regret this. As they finished eating, he grew increasingly agitated, despite remaining stoic on the outside. When Kagome rose to bring her tray to the trash can, he got to his feet as well to swiftly gather up his garbage.

"Let's go," Inuyasha grumbled. He grabbed his backpack and carryon and paused for a moment to allow her to shrug her backpack on. They made their way through the terminal, walking a good ways until he spotted an empty corner near a gate that currently was not in service. Nobody was sitting in the general vicinity, thanks to that fact, and it was out of the way from the main walkway. He veered over and dropped his luggage as he took a seat. It was now or fucking never.

Kagome took the seat next to him, angling her body his direction as she eagerly waited for him to remove the necklace. She did notice that he looked rather uncomfortable, and he fidgeted for a moment before grasping the dark purple beads. When he slowly began pulling the beaded necklace up and over his head, his long black hair getting slightly tangled in it in the process, she couldn't help but grin, as black hair started to fade to silver.

Upon seeing Inuyasha's true form at long last, she simply stared at him with her mouth slightly open in awe.

_A/N: I do not like the kotodama. Sure, it has its comedic value in the show, but I feel Kagome abuses its power way too much and I usually just feel bad for Inuyasha. So I prefer to give it other uses, such as concealing his youkai. Not sure if I made it that clear, but the idea I had in mind was that in this AU youkai can only fly when they use something to subdue their youkai while they are on the plane. Kind of like how you can't fly with weapons and other sharp items. Just a law to ensure safety, so the human passengers don't have to worry about sitting next to a youkai who is going to just punch a hole through the side of the plane and make it crash, or some crazy shit like that._


	4. Chapter 4 Big Mistake

"Oh! You're…a hanyou?" Kagome exclaimed, staring at Inuyasha in total surprise. She honestly hadn't known what to expect in the slightest, but she was quite certain she hadn't expected him to look as equally gorgeous. The triangles that had appeared on top of his head had immediately caught her eye, making her stare at them with wonder. All she wanted to do was touch them, and she felt her fingers twitch as she tried to refrain from reaching out.

The sound of Inuyasha's low snarl jolted her from her trance. Her eyes darted back down to his face, which she gulped when she realized that his eyes were flashing dark with anger. "What of it?" he spat out.

"Huh? What? I…?" Kagome sputtered, taken aback at the rather sudden change in his demeanor. He looked downright pissed, and he seemed to be directing that anger at her.

"I _said_," Inuyasha repeated slowly, his voice low and just as tense as he looked. "Fucking _what of it?_"

Kagome blinked and shrunk back, feeling a little bit of fear as she stared into his eyes. They had gone from the pretty dark mossy green to a brilliant shade of gold. The intensity of his stare pierced right through her, and she found herself practically frozen and unable to think.

At her silence, Inuyasha just snarled and grabbed his beads to yank back over his head. "I _knew_ this was a fucking mistake! Should _never_ have-" he bit out between clenched teeth. He had hoped for the best, and yet the first words out of her mouth were that he was a hanyou. As if it had to be stated.

"Inuyasha! Stop!" Kagome exclaimed. Her hand shot out, grabbing Inuyasha around the wrist, in effort to stop him from freaking out and putting the necklace back over his head.

Inuyasha froze mid-sentence when she grabbed his arm. Nobody ever dared to grab him. "Don't fucking touch me! I _knew_ you would be disgusted by me!" he hissed.

"What?" Kagome exclaimed. He had tried to shake her free, but she only tightened her fingers around his arm to hold on. "Whoa, stop! I am _not_ disgusted by you! Stop freaking out and just calm down! Please!" Her voice was quavering, for she was a little freaked out at seeing him in such an agitated state. Apparently she had screwed up somehow and gave him the wrong impression.

Sensing her honest distress, Inuyasha quieted down, but he was still pissed. "If you're not disgusted by me, then why were the first words out of your mouth '_you're a hanyou?_' And then you just stared at my ears like I'm some sort of fucking freak show."

Kagome squeezed his forearm, rubbing her thumb in a circle on it, to try soothe and distract him. "I'm sorry if you took it that way. I didn't mean to just blurt that out. I didn't mean anything bad by it, I swear to you." Inuyasha relaxed slightly under her hand, and allowed her to pull his arm down a bit. She could see how tense he was though, for his whole body was taut as if he were ready to snap.

"You get it now, though?" Inuyasha bit out sullenly. "Why I didn't want you to see me?"

"I understand why you were so hesitant," Kagome admitted. He flinched and tried to pull away from her, but she somehow managed to maintain her grip on his forearm. "I know a lot of people out there still hold prejudice against hanyou." She did not miss the way his ears lowered when she said that word. "But I'm not most people and you have nothing to worry about. I wasn't staring at your ears because I think you're a freak show."

"Then why were you staring?" Inuyasha asked, his voice down to a low grumble at this point.

Kagome swallowed hard and glanced at him, almost afraid to look up at them again. "Because…"

"Because?" Inuyasha imitated her, lifting his lip in a bit of a sneer, revealing the tip of a fang inside of his mouth.

"Thought they were cute," Kagome mumbled quickly, feeling her own ears blush. She had to break eye contact at this point, since she wasn't typically one to outright tell a guy that she found him cute.

Inuyasha had opened his mouth to counteract whatever insult she had coming for him, and was totally caught off guard by that. He just blinked at her for a second. "What?"

"Nothing," Kagome replied, turning red.

"You think they're _cute?_" Inuyasha asked in utter disbelief. This was a total first for him, and he had no idea how to actually react.

Kagome dared to glance up at him, as he stared at her in shock. "Let's just say that I have no issues with your physical appearance and move on, ok? We are still friends, right?"

"Were we friends before?" Inuyasha couldn't resist asking her, his lips parting as he found himself grinning suddenly.

"I thought so," Kagome grinned in return. She wondered if he had any idea how sexy he looked when he grinned, especially now that he had fangs. Overall, he was totally sexy. Never before had silver hair looked so good on anybody. His face had remained exactly the same, with the main differences being hair and eye color, and the dog ears on top of his head.

"I'm still waiting for you to run off," Inuyasha muttered, half seriously.

Kagome just stared into his golden eyes. "Do you _want_ me to run off?" she asked.

"Unsure," Inuyasha gave her a wry grin.

"Well, I don't intend to run away. We still have a couple of flights together, so we'll be stuck with each other's company for a little bit longer, at least," Kagome declared. Suddenly her eyes went wide. "Oh, shit! I didn't think about that! Inuyasha! I need to see your phone! Right now!"

"Why?" he quirked a brow at her.

"Because the odds of us having seats right next to each other again are quite low!" Kagome exclaimed.

Inuyasha smirked at that. "Probably. I might get lucky and have the entire row to myself the next flight." Nonetheless, he pulled his phone out and opened up the app. "I'm 15A."

"I'm 29F," Kagome frowned. "We can just request to change our seats though. Unfortunately neither one of us has a free seat in our row, but 27A and 27B are open. Let's take those."

"I prefer aisle seats," Inuyasha informed her.

"Well, then it's up to you. You can remain in your aisle seat that you already have selected, and forget about sitting next to me, or you can switch to 27B. I prefer window, so I was going to pick 27A, but if you want to swap later on, I'll just sit in the middle. So what's it going to be?" Kagome asked, as she gazed at him steadily to see what he would do.

Inuyasha groaned and glanced down at his phone, to double check the seat selection layout. He really, really, really did not like sitting anywhere besides the aisle. And so he found himself almost immediately pressing the 'change seat' button. "Better hurry up and grab 27A before somebody else does, and I get stuck in between two strangers. Then I'll really be pissed," he commented, raising his eyes to give her a pointed look.

Kagome's face broke into a grin as she switched her seat in a hurry. "We still have one more flight to check our seats on. Looks like it's a smaller plane, and the left side is only two seats across, aaaaand the seat next to me is available. Take it!"

"There. See?" Inuyasha asked, holding his phone out in his clawed hand so she could have proof that he switched his seats to be next to her. He literally just gave up a beloved aisle seat for the dreaded middle seat. Now that was saying something.

"Perfect!" Kagome said happily. Now that they got that settled, she jumped up to her feet to get her blood flowing. There had been way too much sitting involved today, and she was exhausted from it. "I'm so tired!" she groaned, upon being hit by a wave of sudden dizziness. She had put her arms up over her head to stretch her back, arching it to try and get all of the kinks out. "I just want to go to sleeee—aahhh!"

Kagome let out a loud squeal when something hard and kind of sharp swiped across her stomach. That something was apparently Inuyasha's claws, she realized, as she squirmed away and grabbed her midsection to shield it. "Did you just claw me?"

"Yeah. Consider it payback for making me think that you were disgusted by me for a moment," Inuyasha retorted, holding his flexed claws up for her to see.

"Alright, so we're even," Kagome laughed. She glanced down and pulled her shirt up, unaware of Inuyasha's hungry gaze at the sight of her bare skin. "You didn't actually scratch me, did you?" she asked as she inspected herself, looking to see if he actually broke any skin.

"No, I have very good control over my claws. I could have gouged you out if I had wanted to," Inuyasha informed her. "But I decided not to leave a single mark on you."

"Well, thank you for that. I really like my body intact, just the way it is," Kagome replied.

"Yeah, me too," Inuyasha agreed, suddenly feeling a bit awkward, for he wasn't sure if he had meant to say something slightly flirtatious just then. "Um, now that you've gotten to see me, I'm just going to put the necklace on and we can go figure out where the hell our gate is at."

"Aw, so I only get to see you like this for a few minutes?" Kagome pouted.

"Yeah. I'd rather just stay human until I'm out of the airport. Even if it is allowed to be like this before boarding," Inuyasha admitted. He grabbed his necklace and pulled it down over his head, feeling the pulse as it subdued his youkai. In truth he typically hated being in his human form, but with all the hustle and bustle of people from all over the entire world all crammed into a smaller space, he found he would rather just stick to that form. It brought him less attention, in particular from those who came from cultures that were even less accepting of hanyou, or youkai in general, and also his senses weren't so overwhelmed either. A lot of people crammed into a smaller area was never enjoyable for him.

"Fine," Kagome sighed. She stretched and yawned again, in effort to shake off her growing fatigue. "I don't know if I have the energy to run all over the place though. I've been up forever, it seems."

"Well, I'm not carrying you across the airport, so better grab your shit and keep up with me," Inuyasha grinned at her. Kagome just grumbled and got her bags, grouchily following him as he led the way once again. After a quick stop at the departure screen, they headed on to the gate listed.

"I'm soooo tired. All I want to do is sleep," Kagome whined, once they found the gate that had been listed on the screen.

"Are you always this cranky when you're tired?" Inuyasha dared to ask. Kagome just grumbled incoherently at him. "Might as well just lay down here and try to get some rest, since the flight isn't all that long. Otherwise you're just going to bitch about being sleepy every two seconds."

Kagome groaned and glanced at the seats. It looked like she could actually lay down and have enough room. Her feet would be at the end of the row, but that was ok. "Don't run off and leave me here, if I do fall asleep," she grumbled.

"I make no promises," Inuyasha retorted. He pulled the carryons over and arranged them in front of the row of seats, near his feet. Next to him, Kagome swung her legs up and lay down on the uncomfortable vinyl cushions, using her travel pillow under her head, which was right next to his thigh. She looked only slightly cramped with her knees bent, not having enough room to completely stretch out. However, they had already taken up all of the available seats, so there was no more room for him to scoot down any further.

Within moments, her breathing had evened out as she slept. Inuyasha could see goosebumps dotting her arms, as she shivered slightly, so he sighed and dug his hoodie out from his luggage and carefully draped it across her upper body, tucking the edge in behind her. He was tired as well, but didn't feel comfortable trying to doze off, so he pulled his phone out to have something to do for the time being. There were just too many people coming and going here, and he needed to keep an eye on both Kagome and all of their carry-on bags and backpacks.

Kagome did not sleep well at all, but she did sleep. A couple of hours later, she was vaguely aware of being rocked. "Wha…wha?" she moaned, cracking her eyes as she thought she heard her name being called. "Leave me alone. I'm sleeping." Her voice was a whine, for she was not happy about being woken up.

"Not anymore, We need to go. Gate got changed and it's in another terminal," Inuyasha told her tiredly. He had ended up partially dozing off for a bit, with half an ear paying attention to the intercom. Although he had been somewhat out of it, he had caught their current gate and destination mentioned over the loudspeaker, which had made him snap out of it.

"You didn't drool all over the seat, did you?" he couldn't resist asking her.

"Shut up," Kagome groaned painfully, as she pushed herself up. Where did the hoodie come from, she wondered, as she picked at the thick red fabric in total confusion. It definitely wasn't hers. "Ow!"

"What?" Inuyasha glanced her way, raising his brows when he noticed the way she was wincing and grabbing her shoulder. She must have slept wrong on it.

"I can't bend my neck," Kagome whimpered. "Ow!" She struggled to sit up, and attempted to put her backpack on, but ended up failing when she realized she was having trouble moving her arm. "I need help," she groaned.

"Here, just let me have it," Inuyasha sighed. He grabbed her backpack from her, slinging it over his shoulder, so that it hung alongside his own that was already on his back.

Kagome just blinked at him, as she slowly realized what he did, as she was still half asleep. "Oh. Thank you." She stumbled to her feet and grabbed her carryon, since she could at least wheel that around. The airport was still busy at this hour, although she had no idea exactly what hour it was, aside from it being black outside. The bright lights inside the airport gave her a slight headache, making her squint. As she stumbled along, she was grateful that Inuyasha was moving a bit slower this time around, so as not to separate them.

When they made it to the correct gate, Kagome just dropped down on the first available set of seats. She groaned painfully as she rubbed her tender neck and shoulder. "Did you pinch a nerve or something?" Inuyasha asked as he watched her. She just mumbled and shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

There was no possible way to try and continue sleeping here at this gate, since it was crazy crowded, so Kagome just slumped in her seat, trying to keep her head up and straight. By the time they boarding process began, she was finding it impossible to keep her eyes open.

Inuyasha had to urge Kagome to get up and grab her luggage when their boarding group was called up. "Sir, you can't have two personal items," the gate attendant frowned at him, upon noticing the extra backpack he was holding.

"I only have one. I'm just carrying this for my, ah, friend," he replied, nodding at Kagome who was right behind him.

"Yeah, that's my backpack. He's just being sweet for once in his life," Kagome yawned and set her phone on the screen to scan her boarding pass.

"Other way," the attendant told her flatly.

"Oh. Kind of tired," Kagome yawned, as she flipped her phone over and ended up knocking it to the floor. As she dove to pick it up, she ended up hitting her head on the side of the counter. "Ow!"

"Let's just hurry up and sit down on the damn plane before you knock yourself out completely," Inuyasha decided, as he choked back a laugh. He grabbed her elbow and tugged her along, letting her get in front of him so he could keep an eye on her and make sure she didn't walk into a wall or something.

"Sorry. Just overly tired," Kagome grumbled over her shoulder.

"27A. Keep on going back," Inuyasha instructed. They made it to their row without incident, where he took charge and put her carryon up overhead since she was still struggling too much due to shoulder pain.

Kagome still had the hoodie that she had been covered with earlier, and she was quite grateful for Inuyasha for sharing it. "This is nice and warm. Mind if I keep using it?" she asked shyly.

Inuyasha gave her a quick glance, nothing how she was leaning against the window of the plane, all wrapped up in his jacket with the hoodie over her head. She looked adorable in his hoodie, which was a little oversized on her. This plane was colder than the last, but at least they also provided cheap packaged blankets to use. He tore one open and covered himself as best as he could. Before the plane even began to taxi away from the gate, they had both passed out.

The next morning they woke up in Chicago. Kagome groaned when her head bounced against the window upon the plane landing. Somehow she had managed to sleep through the entire flight, which wasn't something she was often capable of doing. She was still sore though, for sleeping on the airplane had been no better than the awful cushions at the previous airport.

"Oh, fuck. Looks like our flight out of Chicago got way delayed," Inuyasha muttered. He had checked his notifications as soon as they had the go ahead to turn airplane mode off on their phones.

"What? How long is way delayed?" Kagome pushed herself to sit up straighter and stared at him.

Inuyasha grimaced and reread the email. "We're here for fourteen hours."

"What?!" Kagome exclaimed loudly. "Oh hell no. You have to be kidding me! It was supposed to be a three hour layover! What happened?"

"Apparently there was an issue with the plane we were supposed to be on, so they're replacing it with a different one that is flying in from somewhere in Europe later today," Inuyasha informed her.

Kagome groaned and grabbed her phone to check the app. "Well, that sucks. I was looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight. Let's check our seats real quick."

Since they were still taxiing, they took the opportunity to snag two side by side seats again, however much to Inuyasha's annoyance he had to select another middle seat.

"So, since we now have a fourteen hour layover here, we might as well go out and explore the city," Kagome commented.

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose at that. "It's just so…big and crowded. I'm a Montana man, remember?"

"I know, but do you really want to spend fourteen hours sitting in an airport? I sure as hell don't. I mean, you can if you really want, but I'm going to go explore. We could always meet up later for the flight, if that's what you prefer," Kagome told him with a shrug.

"Hm," Inuyasha frowned and wrinkled his nose. Running around Chicago wasn't very high on his list of fun activities, as he preferred quieter, outdoorsy destinations. He hated the idea of massive cities with all the concrete and steel, and crowded with other people. He also hated the idea of making Kagome run out there all alone, in case something were to happen to her. If she got mugged, it would be entirely his fault for not coming along. "No, I'll go with you. We'll just have to store our luggage for the day."

"Great! It will be much more fun exploring with a friend!" Kagome said enthusiastically.

"You have a lot of energy now," Inuyasha commented wryly.

Kagome grinned at him. "Yeah, I got enough sleep to get me going, I suppose. It was lousy sleep, but it did the trick."

A short while later, they were off the plane. Kagome was in desperate need to freshen up, so she left Inuyasha to guard her carryon while she went into the bathroom with her backpack. The stalls were large enough to change in, although she still had to do the balancing act and stand on her shoes while she did a partial change of clothing.

She was dying to take a shower now, because she felt so gross from sitting on and sleeping in airplanes and airports, but obviously that was going to have to wait another whole day. Instead, all she could do was clean up with the package of wipes she had brought. It was no shower, but was good enough for now. Her travel sized can of dry shampoo was almost empty, but there was still enough left to freshen up her hair, which was a total mess.

Once they were ready to go, they headed on out to hunt down some lockers so they could go explore. It was quite cold out today, they realized, as they checked the weather app. "Hopefully I won't freeze," Kagome pressed her lips together. She had a nice jacket to wear, but only had jeans on her bottom half, as going out into Chicago hadn't been on her original itinerary.

"Well, then we better find things to do indoors," Inuyasha replied. He had a pretty good tolerance for the cold, thanks to his youkai blood and spending almost his entire life in Montana. With his red hoodie back in his possession, he was good to go.

"Great, let's go find a coffee shop and get some breakfast first!" Kagome decided.

Inuyasha wrinkled his nose at that. "I'm not a fan of coffee."

"How about hot cocoa, then? You can get something besides coffee. I'm sure there are tons of great places here. I, for one, am really in the mood for a nice large coffee," she replied cheerfully. Grabbing his arm, she tugged him towards the exit, but then paused and turned to face him. "Oh, one other thing," she began, as she tilted her head back to shyly gaze into his dark hazel eyes. She reached up and gently tugged on his beads. "Will you take this off for the day for me?"

_A/N I've tried making this as realistic as possible. The flight they were on is on a list of longest flights in the world. Delta operates nonstop from Johannesburg to Atlanta, and it takes about 16 hours and 49 minutes. Seems like torture, especially for economy! I have only been to O'Hare once for a quick layover, and it's a nice huge airport that could be fun to explore. Apparently they no longer have lockers there but it was needed for the story just so they don't have to drag bags around, so I'm going with it. _


	5. Chapter 5 Take a Chance

Inuyasha stared down at the girl when she pulled his necklace and asked him to take it off. His mind was telling him no, because even though she had taken the sight of his usual form quite well, the apprehension still kicked in again. Plus he didn't enjoy the way the overwhelming amount of noises and scents assaulted his enhanced senses. However she just looked up at him, with pretty blue eyes lined with dark lashes that fluttered nicely against her pale skin, and he found it impossible to deny her. Damn girl was making him feel weak.

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" he gave her a wry grin. "But fine. I'll duck off somewhere out of view and take it off. Just for you."

"Thank you. I just want to go out with you as your real, true self," Kagome gave him a happy smile. Instead of going out the exit, he was veering off to walk behind a set of large billboards near wall. She followed him eagerly, glad to not be shooed away as he removed the necklace as she requested. As he transformed once again, she watched with utter fascination. Did he really not have any idea how gorgeous he really was? To her utter dismay, he threw his hoodie on over his long silver hair and pulled the hood up over his head, making her feel a pang of disappointment.

"It's gonna be pretty damn cold out there," he reminded her as he zipped up. "Plus it is the Windy City after all."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Kagome replied. "So, are you all ready to go? Let's get some breakfast and coffee." She had already put her jacket on and had it all zipped up. Hopefully it would be enough, as she only had jeans on her lower half. Unfortunately, she didn't own a lot of good clothing for cold weather, so the plan had been to go shopping once she arrived in Montana.

As they took the train from O'Hare to downtown, Kagome kept herself busy by looking up restaurants near where they would be getting off the train, as well as possible activities for the day. Next to her, a bit squished on the crowded train, Inuyasha just sat with his arms folded, remaining silent as she did her searches. His keen gold eyes just flicked back and forth as he people watched to pass the time. Nobody really paid them much attention, for almost everybody else was engrossed in their phones as well.

"I hate public transportation," Inuyasha muttered, as they finally got off. He had been stuck with Kagome practically in his lap on one side, which was totally fine, but on his other side was this middle-aged woman who kept jabbing him in the side with her elbow, as she had been loudly chatting away on her phone. It had taken all of his self-control now to tell her to go fuck off elsewhere.

"I'm not a fan either," Kagome told him, twirling around to walk backwards for a moment. "But, what can we do about it? It's cheap and efficient."

"Run," Inuyasha grinned at her. "I could have gotten here faster that way."

"You could have, but not me. I'm just a weak little human, remember?" Kagome made a face at him as he nodded in mock agreement. They headed to a cute little cafe for breakfast, so Kagome could warm herself up with a nice, large coffee.

"So, what are we going to do?" Inuyasha asked. Folding his arms behind his head, he arched himself over the back of his chair, in effort to stretch out his kinked muscles. It felt pretty good, and he was satisfied when he felt a small pop.

Kagome eyed him as he languidly stretched in front of her. "I want to go meet up with my friend while we're here today. She's at the museum right now and it isn't too far away."

Inuyasha quickly sat upright and raised a brow at her. "You want to go hang out with your friend?" He frowned as he felt a pang of disappointment, for he wasn't really that interested in making this a group outing. If Kagome had a friend here, one that she was wanting to meet up with, chances are they went a good ways back. He really didn't want to feel like a third wheel being dragged along, because she was probably going to just give her friend her full attention, considering they were only here for a few hours. If that was the case he may as well just have stayed back at the airport.

"No, not hang out, since she won't be able to leave the museum," Kagome quickly reassured him, as she had sensed his sudden downcast look that he hadn't successfully hid. "Just want to swing by, say hi to her, that sort of thing. Don't worry, you'll like her."

"Alright," Inuyasha nodded. They had finished eating, so Kagome grabbed a refill for her coffee and out they went. The museum was basically across the street, so they walked on over. It was pretty windy out, making the temperature seem even lower than it actually was. Kagome was grateful for the hot beverage in her hand, which helped to provide a little more heat. She found herself clutching it as she walked and drank, since she had forgotten to buy a pair of gloves. That was going to have to be put onto her shopping list. Also a cute hat as well, since her ears were burning cold.

Once they were inside the museum with their tickets, Inuyasha fully unzipped his jacket and let his hood down, much to Kagome's delight. She couldn't help but sneak a peek up at the cute doggie ears on top of his head, whenever he was looking the other way. It was actually pretty comfortable in here, so she unzipped her jacket as well.

As she started to unfold the map of the museum, he turned to her, with his hands shoved into his pockets. "So, uh, do you want to go find your friend now and say hi to her, since it's still pretty slow here right now? Unless you need to wait for her to take a lunch break or something?"

Kagome glanced up with a grin. "Now would be a great time, actually, since it seems like it's still pretty slow. That way we won't have to worry about competing for her attention with the crowds and swarms of kids that may show up later, if they're doing any field trips today."

Inuyasha groaned at the idea of a million kids flooding the museum. Hopefully luck would be on their side though. Kids weren't bad, but when there were dozens of them and they all ran around screaming, because the chaperones couldn't handle them all, it drove him freaking insane. "Ok. Let's just go and find her then and hope for the best." He followed Kagome as she led the way, phone in hand while walking and typing. They passed by a lot of interesting exhibits on the way, so he was going to make sure they didn't skip them on the way back out later. This was definitely the sort of outing that piqued his interest.

"Alright, I think we're almost there!" Kagome told him cheerfully, turning around as she walked so she could face him for a moment.

Inuyasha was busy looking at the various bones on display, for they had entered the dinosaur section. He found skeletons in general fascinating, and was definitely interested in spending a good bit of time here, once Kagome met up with her friend. "Ooh, there she is!" he heard her squeal, so he glanced up and saw her pointing across the room.

"She is? Where?" he asked, glancing around in confusion, ears twitching slightly. "I don't sense anybody around right now."

"She's right there!" Kagome giggled. Grabbing Inuyasha by the wrist, she all but yanked him across the room, making him trot after her.

"What the hell are you talking about? Have you gone mad? We're the only two people in here right now!" Inuyasha was giving Kagome an incredulous look as he said that. Right now there was literally no other sign of life in the huge room, except for him and her. "Did they spike your coffee or something?"

"Inuyasha," Kagome was laughing and struggling to say his name with a straight face, failing miserably. It took her a moment to regain her composure so she could actually speak. "She is right here. Here!" For emphasis, she threw her arms up and out in an exaggerated manner, as she stood in front of a massive T-Rex skeleton. "This is Sue. Sue, meet Inuyasha. Inuyasha, meet Sue."

"What? That's a T-Rex," Inuyasha blinked at her for a moment.

"Yes, she is a T-Rex, that happens to be named Sue," Kagome explained patiently. She grabbed Inuyasha's wrist again, pulling him closer to read the sign that was displayed beneath her. "See? It says so right here. Sue is famous.

"You have _got_ to be fucking kidding me!" Inuyasha actually cracked up laughing a bit, upon realizing that dinosaur skeleton was, in fact, named Sue. "Wow. I thought you meant you were bringing me to meet an actual _person_, when you said you wanted to meet up with your friend earlier."

"Nope, I never said she was a person! Just my friend. Isn't she awesome? I've never even met her before, but I always knew I wanted to if I got to come to Chicago. You'll have to get a picture of me and her. Please?" Kagome was all grins and giggles as she gave Inuyasha her phone.

"You actually got me on that one. I kind of vaguely remember hearing about this Sue the T-Rex before but it didn't dawn on me when you were talking about her earlier," Inuyasha shook his head, somewhat impressed that she had pulled a fast one on him like that. This girl wasn't boring, that was for certain. He liked that about her. As requested, he took her phone and backed up to get some pictures.

Kagome quickly scrolled through the pictures when she got her phone back. At least he had the sense to not cut either her feet or any part of the skeleton out of the shot. Sometimes when she had other people take her picture, they came out pretty awful. "Perfect. Now we need some together real quick. Like a selfie."

"You're such a pain, you know that?" Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her, but nonetheless humored her and held the phone out as his arms were longer. He had to bend over and hold it from a low angle, to get both Kagome's head and Sue's head in the shot. "I probably look absolutely awful in that, but ok. Here you go."

"You, awful? No, never," Kagome said as she happily took her phone to look at the latest pictures. She was happy with how they both looked in it, even if Inuyasha had more of a sneer than a happy grin on his face, like she did. Even so, they looked cute together in the picture, in her opinion.

Inuyasha just ignored her disagreement with that and walked around, his head tilted back as he observed the entire specimen with fascination. "You like dinosaurs then? If you've always wanted to come here and meet your friend Sue?"

"Like? No, I love dinosaurs! They're so cool!" Kagome gushed. "I think it would be amazing to go back in time and see them alive and running all over. If only that were actually possible!"

"That would be. I'd love to see the dinosaurs and the Ice Age mammals as well," Inuyasha agreed. He had a little grin on his face, for he was constantly being surprised at just how much the two of them actually had in common. She might be a weak little human, as he liked to call her, but she was kind of a tinier, much prettier, female version of himself.

After walking all around and inspecting Sue the T-Rex, they made their way back towards her head end, where the plaques were. "Did you know that Sue is the most complete T-Rex found to date? And she was also kind of recently discovered!" Kagome gushed. They were standing by her head now, so she tilted her own head back and gazed up through the skeleton's lower jaw.

"She's also one of the oldest specimens they found, in terms of age at the time she died, and one of the largest," Kagome continued. "She is named Sue because the person who discovered her was named Sue. Oh, I think she was around thirty when she died. Sue the T-Rex, I mean. Not Sue the lady that found Sue. Wow, that was an interesting sentence!"

Inuyasha snorted out a laugh as Kagome giggled at herself. "Sue was also the most expensive fossil in the world. I forget how much the Field Museum here paid for her, but it was in the millions!"

"You know an awful lot about Sue," Inuyasha smirked. He dropped to lean down and rest his forearms on the gate that surrounded the raised platform that Sue was mounted on, to prevent people from getting too close to her. As she had been talking and spewing out random facts, he had noted that some of them were mentioned on the plaque. So he knew that she wasn't just making things up, and she hadn't even been reading from the plaques when she talked. "It's almost like you're obsessed with her. Maybe you have a crush on her?"

Kagome just grinned and turned to gaze at Inuyasha, who was now bent over as he looked up at her. His inhuman gold eyes were staring at hers, piercing straight through her because the light was hitting them just right. "I, uh," she cleared her throat. "No, I actually have a crush on somebody else," she admitted quickly and feebly. She had to break eye contact with him as she said that, but when she dared to glance his way again, he was still eyeing her with a thoughtful expression on his face.

So she decided to keep going to change the subject from crushes, because the person she had been referring to a second ago was right there next to her. "There's another T-Rex named Scotty, and he's apparently larger, both in terms of height and weight, than Sue is, and even a little bit older. I think he's in Canada somewhere."

"Well, too bad they can't meet. He could have been her long lost lover," Inuyasha smirked.

Kagome grinned. "How funny would that be? I wonder what their mating practices were like. I wonder just how they did it…"

"Get your mind out of the gutter," Inuyasha teased her and nudged her in the side with his shoulder.

"Sorry, but I can't help it!" Kagome laughed. "It's just a really funny image in my head, of two T-Rexes trying to have sex somehow. With those little tiny useless arms waving around."

"Most animals mate with the male mounting the female from behind, in case you weren't aware," Inuyasha informed her, his grin wide enough to reveal a fang. "There's a couple of exceptions out there, but generally speaking, humans are the main ones that have sex face to face. Or in any number of more complicated positions."

Kagome was trying not to blush, because he was still staring at her as he said that. _'Keep your cool, Kagome,'_ she told herself, as she found it hard to look at him right now. He was too damn gorgeous for his own good, and the current subject wasn't helping any.

"So, they do it doggy style, then," she commented, daring to keep the conversation going. "But that's kind of funny though, because shouldn't it be the other way around? Dogs came to be much later than the dinosaurs, so we should say that dogs do it T-Rex style. Right?"

"Makes sense," Inuyasha snorted with amusement.

"Yeah," Kagome declared. They really had to change the subject now, because she was feeling way too flustered again. "You know that this skeleton of Sue is real, right? You can tell by looking at the way all the bones are individually supported, rather than being one big piece with a central rod holding it all up."

"That I did know," Inuyasha grinned at her, before turning his gaze back to the skeleton.

"Aw," Kagome pouted. She dropped to her forearms as well, to match his position, although she didn't have to lean over quite so much. "I love museums so much, and I want to go to them all," she added with a sigh. "I just love getting to look at skeletons like this, and it's a million times better when it's the real deal and not just a cast. Makes me wonder what happened in the animal's day to day life, and all the struggles it went through to make it to whatever age, and how they died."

Inuyasha gave her a glance, noting that she was close enough for their arms to be touching. "You're such a strange girl, you know that?"

"How am I strange?" Kagome turned to hold his gaze, with a quirked eyebrow. "Because I'm over here geeking out over a dinosaur?"

"Yes," Inuyasha flashed a grin at her. "Most girls aren't into bones and museums like that, and most girls definitely don't have crushes on 30 year old T-Rexes named Sue. Er, 65 million and thirty year old dinosaurs, perhaps? I never realized you swung that way, but hey. Whatever floats your boat."

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Kagome told him slyly.

"I can only imagine," he smirked. "You're definitely a weirdo."

"I like what I like, and most guys do think I'm weird, so what of it?" Kagome admitted airily.

"Well, most guys are idiots," Inuyasha shrugged. He found her weirdness to be extremely endearing, and it was what had really hooked his attention. That, and the fact that she wasn't just very physically attractive, she actually had a brain. Turning his attention back to Sue, he gazed up at the large rib cage they were standing in front of.

"So, now that you've impressed me with all your knowledge on Sue, your big T-Rex crush," he began, nudging her in the side playfully. "It's my turn to impress you with my more general predator and T-Rex knowledge."

"Oh, is it? Let's see you impress me," Kagome grinned, biting her lip and turning her head back at him once again.

Inuyasha swallowed hard at how irresistible she looked when she did that. It drove him crazy every goddamn time. He had to look away from her to calm his nerves. "She's got sharp teeth. She likes meat. That's all."

Kagome burst out laughing at that. "Wow, I'm sooooo impressed, Inuyasha. I never would have guessed. I figured she preferred salad to keep her nice trim figure."

"I learned that in college," Inuyasha snickered, enjoying that he made her laugh. "On a slightly more serious note, there's a bit of a debate as to whether T-Rex was a scavenger or a predator. They have huge olfactory nerves, like a vulture. Those front legs are way too tiny to aid in hunting in any form. However the eye sockets face forward, and that's a sign of a predator. You don't really need binocular vision if you're just going to follow your nose to locate a meal, but it's extremely useful when it comes to hunting. I say that T-Rex did a bit of each, but hey, that's not my specialized field, so what the hell do I know?"

He flashed Kagome a lazy grin, before continuing. "You know, when they first discovered T-Rex and put a skeleton on display, they had it standing upright with its tail dragging on the ground. Kind of like how you picture Godzilla. After decades of studying the fossils, they realized that they had it all wrong, and that T-Rex's natural posture was a horizontal one, with the tail out behind to help balance. Like a counterweight. Just like you see here."

"Oh, really? I had no idea they did that. That's pretty funny, actually. Makes me want to go back in time to when they had the skeleton in the wrong position, just to see it for the humor of it," Kagome replied.

"You want to go back in time for everything," Inuyasha smirked at her. "It's amusing to me too, and I would think it would be common sense. It's just much more effective to run in this position. Hence why they evolved this way. Scavenger or predator, if you saw this beast running your way, that would be quite terrifying. Unless you're me, and can't be taken down so easily."

"True. You're a tiny predator in comparison to Sue," Kagome smiled at him sweetly.

Inuyasha bared a fang at her, which she found to be quite exciting, given their close proximity. "Don't call me tiny! I'm bigger than you are!"

"You're still a lot smaller than Sue, but far more masculine, don't worry," Kagome stated. Before he could get mad, because _men_, and any mention of being smaller than something else, she decided to change the subject. "Just look at the claws on those feet. Aren't they amazing?"

"Yea, they're extremely impressive. I would love to have one to keep for myself. If I ever find one someday, when I'm out exploring, I'm totally keeping it," Inuyasha declared.

"You already have ten claws of your own," Kagome grinned at him. She had been sneaking peeks at his hands throughout the day, for she found it a bit fascinating how he didn't seem to have any issue doing anything with claws at the tips of his fingers. Without even realizing what she was doing, she found herself reaching out to take one of his hands in her own. Bringing it up closer, she admired the claws that he had, which were pointy yet blunt all at once.

Inuyasha froze when she grabbed his hand and held it up, her palm fully touching his. They hadn't actually touched each other like this yet, he realized. Well, with the exception of their fingers grazing a couple of times and grabbing each other by the wrist. Oh, and when she grabbed his arm to stop him from freaking out after he first revealed himself. This was the first time they really made actual bare skin contact, in a nice, gentle manner. Confused, he just stared at their hands.

"What are you doing?" Inuyasha asked, his voice just above a whisper, when she angled herself towards him so she could reach up with her other hand and run her fingertips along the edges and tips of his claws.

"Admiring," Kagome managed to reply without stammering. Her heart was starting to thump a bit, as she faced Inuyasha and held his hand. It was a bit larger than her own dainty one, and was slightly rough and calloused on the palm. She instantly realized she loved the way it felt, and how warm he was to the touch. His fingers twitched slightly, and she could feel the strength in his grasp.

"They could hurt you," Inuyasha muttered quietly. The longer she held his hand, the more nervous he was getting. Or was that her? She was nervous too, but not from the claws, it didn't seem. His nose was twitching and he stared hard at her, as he strained to use his senses to get a grasp on what she was feeling. Nervous but also excited? Now that they were alone, and not surrounded by a million people, he had an easier time focusing on her scent. He had been focusing on it once they got into the museum, and he had been extremely pleasantly surprised at just how clean and alluring it was. However now, it had changed slightly, to a more wanting, needy scent, and it was reeling him in.

"They could hurt me. Gouge me out completely, like you told me earlier," Kagome reminded him. Her eyes were cast down at their joined hands, as she continued tracing across the edges with one fingertip. Dark lashes fluttered against her pale cheeks as she spoke, but then she glanced up and found herself staring into two dark golden eyes. "But you control the claws, and _you_ won't hurt me."

"Nope," Inuyasha agreed, forgetting to be his usual sarcastic ass self.

"Good. Then I can touch them all I want, right? I like the way they feel," Kagome grinned up at him, biting her lip ever so slightly.

That did it for Inuyasha. He couldn't take that teasing habit of hers any longer. Between that sexy visual, and her enticing scent, he wanted her badly. "You're such a fucking weirdo, you know that?" his voice was a low growl, as he decidedly closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss was chaste and lasted only for a second, before Inuyasha pulled back from her. His eyes searched her face to gauge her reaction, which was a bit shocked. "You kissed me!" she exclaimed, putting a hand to her mouth. She was a little confused, even though she had _wanted_ that kiss. She just hadn't expected him to outright do it.

"Yeah," Inuyasha replied. He was confused himself right now, for she didn't seem the least bit angry, although she was frowning slightly. Had he read her subtle body clues wrong? Perhaps that had been a total mistake and she didn't see him that way. It was a completely crazy thing to do, he thought, but he had decided to just take a chance. He had literally just met her what, a day ago? Even so, he felt like he had known her for much longer, because of all their common interests, and he wanted to get to know her even more.

Kagome suddenly glanced hard into his eyes. "Are you…Did you want…Was that just a one time thing?" she demanded, upon having a hard time putting a proper sentence together.

Inuyasha just smirked at her and leaned closer again. "Well, I can tell you that it will never, ever happen again," he informed her. A look of shock, very quickly followed by anger flashed across Kagome's face at that answer, and as she opened her mouth to tell him off, he pressed his lips to hers once again. When he had looked into her eyes as she questioned him, he had affirmed his initial observations were right. She was just afraid that he wanted to use her to fool around. That was absolutely not the case or his intention.

The second kiss lasted a little longer than the first, but still remained chaste. When Inuyasha pulled back again, Kagome just stared up at him flabbergasted. "B-but…you just said…never? What game are you playing? Inuyasha!" she demanded.

"No game, just answering honestly," Inuyasha laughed quietly. "We can only have one first kiss. After that it can't possibly ever happen again, because the next kiss is the second one. Makes sense, right?" He just couldn't resist messing with her a bit, because he greatly enjoyed seeing her get riled up.

Kagome put her hand to her mouth and laughed at him. "Wow. Ok. You totally had me going there for a moment. I thought you were going to be an asshole and actually admit that you just wanted to steal a kiss for the hell of it and then move on and pretend like it was nothing, like most guys would do."

Inuyasha lifted his lip a bit at her. "Do I seem like most guys to you?" He waited for her to shake her head. "Good. But what about your crush you had mentioned earlier? You said you have a massive one on Sue right here, and also somebody else. Who?"

"You," Kagome admitted shyly, after a moment's pause. She glanced down for a moment, but when she looked back at him, she was glad to see that a look of relief had flashed across his face. She smiled slightly and gripped his hand, pulling him over to stand in front of her. "I…That will never happen again, by your logic. So let's do something brand new and have a third kiss."

"I like the way you think," Inuyasha grinned. He loosened up a bit, now knowing that she was fully accepting his advances on her. Just to be absolutely sure, he had to ask her about her crush, in case he was wrong and he wasn't the only one she had her sights set on.

Before he could lean in to kiss her again, Kagome put a hand up to his chest to make him stop in his tracks, earning herself a confused look. "I want a real kiss this time," she explained shyly.

Wordlessly, Inuyasha just gazed at her for a second, before continuing to lean in. He was a bit nervous, quite frankly, for he didn't want to disappoint. She was literally the first girl he had ever kissed in his entire life. He did his best to move confidently though, and pressed his lips to hers once more, this time parting them so he could slip his tongue out.

Kagome shifted in front of him, as she slid her hands up to wrap around the back of his neck, while guiding him to stand directly in front of her. As his tongue darted forward, she had opened her mouth eagerly, letting him tease her a bit for a second. Once she was effectively caged in, with her back against the barrier, she pulled him closer and tilted her head to allow him to kiss her more deeply. She let him lead the kiss for a moment, before twirling her tongue over his, massaging him gently as she began to dominate it.

Inuyasha had been gripping the railing of the barrier, but as she pulled him close, he moved to wrap an arm around her back. His ears perked up, as they captured the tiny moans she was making into his mouth as he made out with her. With the way they were leaning into each other, her chest was pressed against his, and he was quite aware of the feminine curves of her body, as she had unzipped her jacket all the way upon coming inside the museum.

It was a little funny, he thought, for he hadn't paid much attention to her chest yet, due to most of their interactions happening as they sat side by side on the plane and the two of them running around with him leading the way. He knew from her bikini pictures that she had a decent sized chest, and it was currently flush against his. It both delighted and scared him a bit, to know that she had a crush on him, because he had certainly developed one on her rather quickly. Delighted because he wasn't used to being the object of somebody's affection, and scared because he didn't want to screw it up somehow.

So enraptured was he, with all of his senses focused on the gorgeous and brilliant girl in front of him, that he was completely unaware of the fact that they were no longer the only two people in the room.

A shrill squeal of "Ewww, they're _kissing_!" snapped him out of his trance and he abruptly pulled away. A little boy, probably four or five years old, had run into the room and spotted them immediately, as luck would have it. Coming up behind him, pushing a stroller with a younger child, was an older woman, probably his grandmother, who immediately shot Inuyasha and Kagome a disgruntled look. "This is a family friendly establishment! Shame on you! There are little _children_ in here! Darn millennials that can't keep their hands off of each other!"

"Shoot, we got caught," Kagome giggled quietly. "Let's hurry up out of here and go check out the rest of the museum. Bye Sue!" She waved back at the massive T-Rex that had been looming over them during their very first make-out session as they darted off to get out of sight of the newcomers. It was hard not to blush as they ran past the disapproving elder, for that had been some kiss. Kagome had kissed guys before, but it had never been anything quite like this. They never had that spark that she had felt just now, and she absolutely wanted more.

"Looks like everybody's coming to the museum now," Inuyasha commented with a low laugh. It didn't look like a school trip had arrived, but there were definitely people starting to swarm all over to check out the various exhibits. "Might as well check out the exhibits the way we're supposed to, eh?"

"Yeah, there's a ton of cool stuff here that we paid to come see," Kagome grinned, blushing cutely up at the taller, very handsome man at her side. "Maybe we can just continue kissing later?"

"If you're lucky, we can," Inuyasha grinned down at her and hooked a clawed finger around hers, feeling happy when she responded to his touch by slipping her hand into his. A little feeling in his gut told him that he had started something amazing with her.

_A/N: I'm glad so many people are loving the story so far! Please feel free to review, I appreciate all the feedback!_


	6. Chapter 6 To Montana

After exploring the Field Museum to the fullest, which also involved sharing a less heated kiss underneath the cast of Maximo the Titanosaur, because how could they _not_, Inuyasha and Kagome headed out to grab a late lunch. Since this was Chicago, they had decided that giving the famous deep dish pizza was a must, even though the two of them had eaten their fair share of pizza the previous day. There was a lot of handholding and flirtations between the two of them, and Inuyasha had sneakily paid for both of their lunches before she had the chance to try and get to her wallet.

Since it was so close, they walked over to the Shedd Aquarium next, as they still had a few hours to kill. As it was afternoon, the place was a bit crowded, but they still had fun walking around together looking at the various aquatic animals. The day went by quickly, and before they knew it, the aquarium was closing. It was too early to go back to the airport, so they had dinner at a ramen joint. Apparently Inuyasha had a thing for ramen, Kagome realized with amusement. She had insisted on paying for this meal, as he had bought her admission to the aquarium as well.

By the time they made it back to O'Hare, they had just enough time to get to their gate and relax for a short while before boarding was to begin. Kagome had been a little sad when Inuyasha had to put his concealment necklace back on, but she understood that he didn't have a choice. She wasn't completely sad though, for the black haired and green brown eyed version of him was drop dead sexy in his own way.

Kagome claimed her window seat when they got to their row, and Inuyasha grumpily took his middle one. Right now the aisle seat was still open, and he hoped that it would remain that way. "Finally, we're almost done with this flying shit," Inuyasha grumbled, as he watched Kagome clean her surroundings as was her usual fashion.

"Yep, last flight," Kagome flashed him a tired grin. "The last flight didn't seem too bad on your ears, so hopefully this one will be even better. I have more gum, so take as much as you want."

"Thanks," Inuyasha told her, rubbing his temple a bit. "I have a bit of a headache as it is anyway. I think the smells and noises of Chicago finally got to me. Looking forward to making it back home where's it a hell of a lot more quiet and peaceful. I miss the mountains back home."

"And I'm excited to get to my new home, once I figure out where that will be. A new start in a different region feels like exactly what I need," Kagome replied, somewhat quietly.

Inuyasha turned to glance at her quietly, noting her slightly subdued tone of voice. She was currently leaning against the window, staring out at the black sky and bright lights on the tarmac. As he was thinking of what he could possibly say, a commotion in the aisle caught his attention.

"Ex_cuse_ me, you're kind of blocking my way," a whiny voice griped. Both Kagome and Inuyasha glanced up at the girl who spoke. She was tall and had long, pin straight, jet black hair, with a rather bitchy look to her face that matched her tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm trying to move as fast as I can," the little old woman that was standing in front of her said. She was struggling to put her handbag down on the ground in front of the seats across the aisle from them, but was clearly having difficulty bending down far enough. A flight attendant quickly rushed to the rescue, offering to put the bag under the seat and assisted her with getting in.

Much to his dismay, the bitchy girl plopped down next to Inuyasha, claiming the aisle seat he had been hoping would remain empty. Apparently he wouldn't be so lucky on this flight. "Good god. You know, people should probably pay attention to the announcements they make when boarding begins so the rest of us don't get held up. They ask those who need special assistance to board first for a reason."

"Maybe she was in the bathroom or couldn't make it to the gate when they had started," Kagome couldn't help but retort, leaning forward to stare around Inuyasha at the girl who joined their row. She was appalled at the girl's attitude towards the elderly woman.

"Then make her wait until the end, once all of us mobile people have taken our seats," she snipped. The girl had her oversized purse on her lap and was digging through it. When she found whatever it is she needed, she practically hit Inuyasha with her bag as she moved to put it under the seat in front of her. Apparently it was lipstick that she so desperately needed, and she spent a couple of minutes slowly applying it while examining herself in her little handheld mirror.

Inuyasha shared a glance with Kagome as he leaned over to whisper in her ear. "This is gonna be a looooooong fucking flight."

"Maybe just try to sleep it off?" Kagome suggested with a shrug of her shoulders.

"If I'm lucky," Inuyasha whispered back at her. He wrinkled his nose a bit. "She stinks though, like really bad. I don't even need my youkai sense of smell to be able to determine that." As soon as the girl had sat down next to him, he had gotten a whiff of cigarette smoke on her jacket. Most likely it hadn't been washed in a month or so.

"Good thing for this, then," Kagome laughed, as she reached over and tugged on the dark purple and white beaded necklace he wore.

As the plane finished boarding and they began to taxi, the girl next to Inuyasha continued gabbing away on her cell. "Hey, Mike, it's me, Kikyo. So, we're still good for tomorrow night, right? I haven't seen you in foreeeeever!" He just closed his eyes and groaned, as he tried to tune her out. Unfortunately he wasn't very successful due to the pitch of her voice.

It was finally time to start heading down the runway, and it literally took two flight attendants stopping by to get her to put the damn phone away, which she did after a good bit of bitching. Inuyasha just sat there with his hand pressed to his forehead, as he had been silently willing her to shut the fuck up. If the flight attendants hadn't shown up and successfully gotten her to obey, he would have ended up opening his mouth very soon. It would not have been very pretty.

Beside him, Kagome just rested with her head against the window, half asleep. It wasn't very comfortable at all, but her neck was still sore, and it was easier to tilt her head in this direction, rather than try to use Inuyasha as a pillow. While she would much rather do that, her extremely sore neck was screaming otherwise.

Soon after they took off, the girl next to Inuyasha turned to him, crossing her legs as she angled herself towards him. "Hey there. You're kind of cute. And your sister is pretty, too. Good genes, I suppose?"

Inuyasha stared at her for a second before rolling his eyes. "She's my _girlfriend_, first of all. Do you need something? I'm tired and want to be left alone." As he said that, he couldn't help but blink with amazement that Kagome was actually his girlfriend. Although they hadn't specifically said the words boyfriend or girlfriend yet, they had certainly spent the day acting like a couple. He pretty much had no doubts that she considered him a boyfriend at this point.

Kikyo just stared at him for a second, taken back by his attitude, since she wasn't used to guys reacting to her that way. "Well, I just thought we might be able to get to know each other a bit. Entertain ourselves on this flight, if you catch my drift."

"Find a way to entertain yourself, by yourself, because I'm not interested. And even if I was the most single guy on the planet, I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole," Inuyasha informed her. To end the super brief conversation, he leaned back and angled himself away from her and towards Kagome, turning his head to stare out the window. He was cranky because he had a headache, and because he found her to be entirely obnoxious.

"Your loss, then. If you change your mind just let me know. I'm really bored," Kikyo shrugged nonchalantly. Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he gazed at Kagome, who was just staring back at him with a look of disbelief at what she just overheard.

A short while later a loud shriek caught their attention, making Inuyasha and Kagome whip their heads towards the aisle. A small child started to run up and down the aisle, giggling loudly as he held his concealment charm in his hand. He was very clearly a youkai, with a thick bushy tail on his backend.

"Get back here, Shippo!" a petite red-headed woman cried out, as she chased the tiny fox demon towards the front of the plane. "SHIPPO!"

Loud wailing could be heard from the front, when she caught her son, who was throwing a temper tantrum as she made her way back to her seat. The kitsune continued kicking and screaming at the top of his lungs in her arms as she walked, while she struggled to get his charm back on around his neck.

"I'm sorry. So sorry for that. Sorry!" she exclaimed, apologizing left and right to the seated passengers as she walked back to their seats. At least the wailing stopped a few moments later, when she somehow found a way to placate him.

"Unbelievable. It's like they'll let anybody on a plane these days," Kikyo complained, as seemed to be her favorite pastime. "They should make all youkai go on their own flights and stick with their own kind. Don't you think?" Turning to angle her body towards Inuyasha, who she apparently hadn't given up on just yet, she crossed her legs once again and started to play with her long strands of hair. If she was trying to catch his attention, it was not working. She was just not his type and he was just recently taken.

Inuyasha just gave her a deadpan stare for a long moment. "Guess what. Youkai," he informed her flatly, as he tugged on his beads for emphasis before turning back to Kagome. "You know, that's actually a really good idea. They should just have special planes dedicated to all the people who are rotten cunts, don't you agree, babe? That way they can all bitch and be miserable with their own kind."

"Oh, I agree completely," Kagome gave him a big smile and leaned forward, reaching for his hand to hold. Their innocent PDA seemed to be just enough to make Kikyo scoot back to sit properly and finally start to ignore Inuyasha. A short while later she got up and stormed towards the front of the plane. Kagome smirked when the girl ran off. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom super fast while she's not here and then I'll be good until we land. I just don't want to have to ask her to get up."

"Great, run," Inuyasha agreed, as he quickly got up and stepped into the aisle, so that his she could make a fast trip. As he stood there, he noticed that Kikyo was waiting in line at the door of the bathroom ahead of them, which was actually a good bit further away than the one behind them.

"Do you want the window?" Kagome asked upon her return. "That way you don't need to sit next to that girl anymore? You can take my seat and I'll sit in the middle."

Inuyasha frowned at her. "I don't want to make you sit next to her. And besides, you love the window anyway."

"It's too dark to see the ground anyway, and even if the moon is super bright and full and pretty to look at right now, it's alright. She has the hots for my boyfriend, or she did, and I don't want her to try any more funny business. Besides, my neck is sore again and I can only tilt it to the left. If you take the window seat then I can cuddle up to you," Kagome replied.

That sealed it for him. Her comfort was more important than the issue with the other girl, and he did want to give her the chance to cuddle, even if it wasn't the ideal situation. "Alright, sounds good to me. Maybe you can get a little sleep as well, then." He quickly scooted in all the way to the window seat, and Kagome took the middle one, raising the armrest between them so she could lean against him easily. Inuyasha draped an arm around her as he let her snuggle, and this was how they were positioned when Kikyo returned.

Kikyo merely gave them a glance of disgrace and sat down, muttering something under her breath. They ignored her and just continued to cuddle, until the refreshments cart came by.

"I can't sleep," Kagome mumbled, as she pushed herself upright. "Don't know why. My body just refuses right now." So she decided to have a juice and some cookies for a late night snack when the flight attendant made it to their row. She was still intent on trying, so once she was finished, she leaned back against Inuyasha's side and closed her eyes.

"Ow! What the fuck?" Kagome exclaimed loudly a while later, when her lap was suddenly soaking wet with hot liquid. She jolted upright, squirming in her seat in a panic. Just when she had thought it might be possible to drift off for a bit, she had been rudely awakened by a wet lap.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Kikyo exclaimed, her tone of voice contradicting the apology. "My coffee fell off of my tray table."

"You did that on purpose. You're a lying fucking bitch!" Inuyasha snarled. He had been resting with his eyes closed as Kagome snuggled against him, so he hadn't actually seen what happened, but he just _knew_. Between the tone of her voice from the completely fake apology to the fact that there was too large of a gap between the tray table and Kagome's lap, it was obvious that she had intentionally knocked the coffee onto his girlfriend's lap.

Kikyo merely smirked at that and examined her nails. "I would never do such a thing. Watch your mouth. There are children on board."

"Fucking cunt," Inuyasha muttered under his breath. Right now he was growling and digging for some napkins, which he quickly thrust into Kagome's lap and tried to help her mop up the liquid on her jeans. It was only after he pressed the wad of napkins to her inner thigh, did he realize just where his hand was, and quickly retracted. "Sorry, wasn't thinking about what I was doing," he mumbled quietly.

"It's alright. You're fine," Kagome said faintly, still in shock over having hot coffee dropped in her lap. It had burned for just a moment at first, but she was pretty sure her skin fine beneath her clothes. "Guess I'll just be stuck in wet pants for now."

"I just want to fucking strangle that bitch," Inuyasha grumbled into her ear quietly. He was pissed right now, and there was nothing he could do about it. As his girlfriend finished mopping her thighs, he just shot a narrow-eyed look at Kikyo, who was sitting back in her chair with an uninterested look on her face.

"Get in line behind me," Kagome laughed quietly. The remainder of the flight passed by without incident, and she was started awake once the plane touched down. It was still dark outside, but she could tell that the sky was getting lighter with the approaching dawn.

Next to her, Kikyo grabbed her phone and turned it on before they made the announcement that it was ok to go out of airplane mode. "Hi, Daddy! Yes, I just landed safely. What? Oh, I'm in Wyoming or something. Montana, maybe. One of those stupid big states that nobody wants to even go to, let alone live there. Of course. Yes. Don't worry, I'll call you once I land in Cali. What? Oh. The only reason I'm here is because I missed my stupid flight earlier and this was all they could find. It is. Well, how was I supposed to know by 12 AM they meant middle of the night and not noon? Unbelievable. Great. See you soon. I love you too!"

Kagome was rolling her eyes at Inuyasha at the conversation next to her, and he was trying not to laugh at how absurd she sounded. "I'm so glad to be home," Inuyasha grinned at her. "Montana is simply amazing. Just wait until I take you hiking so we can see the bears."

"Oh, I can't wait," Kagome crooned, grabbing his necklace a bit and tugging him to lean in so she could kiss him. "I'm so glad to be here at my new home with my super sexy Montana man boyfriend. You'll have to show me that _huge_ axe of yours that you use to chop wood so we can cook the deer you're going to go kill with your bare hands so we don't starve for dinner tonight. Right?" She playfully batted her eyes at him, which he found amusing.

"Only if you wear my red favorite flannel shirt and nothing else. I'm still building the cabin in the woods so we might need to sleep on the ground for a while. I'll go find the biggest bear I can and skin it so you can just sleep on its hide and not the dirt. Ok?" Inuyasha smirked down at her, as he played along.

Next to them, Kikyo was having a hard time not gaping at them in utter disgust, muttering something about being completely uncivilized under her breath. As soon as they were allowed to get up, she pretty much bolted off, at which point both Inuyasha and Kagome burst into a fit of laughter. "Do you think we pissed her off or something?" he cracked up.

"I sure hope so! Did you see the look on her face? We are total idiots!" Kagome giggled loudly. Their row companion had looked quite uncomfortable, which was hilarious. She had to bury her face into Inuyasha's arm to stifle her laughter. That whole conversation had been totally priceless.

Finally, they were off the plane, ending the last leg of their journey, and were making their way to the baggage claim, which was where Inuyasha's mom was waiting for him. The airport was tiny, so it only took them minutes to get from the plane to the baggage carousel. As they headed towards number one, Inuyasha paused and glanced to the side when he saw his mother peering at the other end. "Mom!" he called, as he jogged towards her, meeting her in a huge hug.

Kagome hurried after him, a bit of a sad smile forming on her face, as she watched mother and son reunite. She saw the way her boyfriend's face lit up as he hugged her. His mother was quite youthful looking, and just a couple of inches taller than she was. She also had long black hair and was rather beautiful.

"Mom, this is Kagome. She's my girlfriend," Inuyasha stated, still grinning like crazy, as she made her way to the two of them. "Kagome, this is mom. Well, Izayoi."

As Kagome was about to offer her hand, Izayoi hurried close and gave her a big hug as well. "Kagome, it is so nice to meet you!" she exclaimed, giving her an embrace before putting her hands on her shoulders and stepping back to give her a once over before turning to her son. "Inuyasha, why on earth did you not tell me that you had such a beautiful girlfriend?"

"I, well, we literally just made things official yesterday. In Chicago on our layover. We also just recently met," Inuyasha explained.

"Oh, well no matter then. I would love to hear more about how you both met. Your father will be thrilled as well. It's about time you found a lovely girl," Izayoi told him, before giving Kagome another warm smile. "I trust my son has been very good to you. He better have, for I raised him to be kind and respectful to women."

Kagome grinned at her, for while Inuyasha did have a very rough around the edges and somewhat bristly personality at times, she could tell he was a sweetheart deep down. As his mother said that, she noted the way he grimaced slightly and darted his eyes her way behind his mother's back. "Yes, he's a good man."

"Bags are coming out now," Inuyasha commented, eager to change the subject, as he watched the conveyer belt start to move. As luck would have it, Kagome's bag ended up being the very first one out, so he grabbed it for her and stood by while keeping watch for his. Pulling her large suitcase back a bit, to make room along the edge of the conveyer belt, she just stood and watched as Inuyasha chatted with his mom, who just gazed lovingly up at him as she asked him all about their journey back. She could tell how much they loved each other, and it just brought back all kinds of memories that she had been struggling to suppress for so long.

Izayoi turned to Kagome with a warm smile, as Inuyasha went to grab his suitcase. "What about you, Kagome? Are your parents on their way here to come get you now? We can wait with you so you don't need to be alone."

Kagome stared at her with wide eyes. "I…uh…they're…" She gulped, swallowing hard, as the words died in her throat. It was too hard for her to verbalize it just yet. Her eyes rapidly darted back and forth between Izayoi and Inuyasha, who had just grabbed his luggage and was turning to face her. "I can't!" she exclaimed, as tears started welling up at the corner of her eyes. "I need to go!" The words came out in a rush, as she whirled on her heel and ran straight for the bathroom, leaving her luggage behind.

Inuyasha and Izayoi stared at her in shock and confusion when she ran off. "Was it something I said? I didn't mean to upset her!" Izayoi exclaimed, looking rather aghast. "What happened?"

"I have no fucking-"

"_Inuyasha!"_

"Sorry, Mom," he mumbled sheepishly. Now that he was back home, he was going to have to get used to watching his mouth in front of his mother once again. "I have no idea, but I noticed she acted a little funny on certain topics on the plane rides we were on. I think something bad happened." He wanted to run after his girlfriend, but she had literally just run into the women's room as two older ladies came out, and he didn't dare follow her in there.

"I'll go talk to her," Izayoi told him gently, noticing his forlorn look.

Once inside the small bathroom in the lobby, Kagome burst into tears. Between the fatigue from traveling across the globe for two days, and the mental exhaustion of suppressing her personal problems, she just couldn't hold back anymore. Thankfully she was alone in here, so nobody had to witness her ugly sobs. Well, for a moment at least, until a gentle hand touched her shoulder. "Kagome, sweetie, what's wrong?" Izayoi asked, frowning deeply with concern. She had followed her into the bathroom, for she knew something was very wrong. Her motherly instinct took over as she began to comfort the young woman.

Outside by the baggage claim area, Inuyasha just quietly dragged all of their luggage to a seating area near the entrance. His mom had run off after Kagome, for she had disappeared into the ladies room. From their conversations on the way over here, he had picked up that something happened to her, regarding family, and gauging by the way she burst into tears when his mom asked about her parents, he had a pretty good idea of what happened. Right now he felt terrible, and wished that he had the foresight to warn his mom not to bring up the topic.

At least half an hour to forty minutes passed by before the two women emerged from the bathroom together. Inuyasha had been playing on his phone to try and keep himself occupied, glancing up now and then to see if they were coming back. His mom gave him a little sad smile as she brought Kagome back, who just looked miserable as she stared at the ground, unwilling to look at him.

"Alright. I'm going to take the two of you out to breakfast now," Izayoi told them.

"Great. I'm starving," Inuyasha replied. Even so, he found he wasn't all that excited to go have breakfast here, since he was more concerned about his girlfriend.

Izayoi frowned at him. "Well, you do look a little too thin. Did you not have enough to eat while you were gone for two years?"

"I ate fine, Mom, I swear. You always worry too much. Kagome, are you feeling up to getting some breakfast?" he asked her quietly.

Kagome forced herself to glance up at him, not wanting him to see her face and eyes all red. She felt completely lame right now and was a bit embarrassed. "I think so. Coffee will probably help."

He just nodded and grabbed the two large suitcases that had been checked, while his mom grabbed his carryon before Kagome could offer to wheel both of the smaller two. Fortunately the SUV was empty enough to accommodate the unaccounted for luggage, which Inuyasha easily lifted up. Once everything was loaded, he hopped into the backseat to sit next to his girlfriend, not wanting to make her sit in the back by herself when she was clearly in an upset mood.

"So, we were talking, and I was thinking, that perhaps Kagome can move in with us," Izayoi suggested, shooting a glance over her shoulder at the two young adults who were cuddling in the backseat. Her son had finally taken off his necklace one he got in the SUV, and it warmed her heart to see the young woman so happily accept him that way. She had the gut instinct that the girl was definitely a keeper.

"Oh, no, I couldn't!" Kagome sat upright and exclaimed, feeling surprised at the open invitation from somebody she had literally just met maybe an hour earlier. "I don't want to intrude on you guys, and I think it would be best if I had a place to myself. I appreciate the offer, I really do, but I just started dating Inuyasha, and I don't want us to feel smothered with each other so early on in our relationship."

"Oh, I completely understand," Izayoi gave her a warm smile in the rearview mirror. "You don't want to rush, and that is a wise choice. I have an idea though, and it's better than just letting you stay in one of our guest rooms. Inuyasha can tell you that I've always said I wanted to own and operate my own B&B. While he was away in South Africa, I finally was able to start construction on it. We just recently finished it, and I've been working on the finishing touches, before we list it online. Perhaps instead of renting it out to tourists, you can rent it from us instead. It would be like having your own little cottage, as it is a fully equipped home. I'll talk to Toga about it, but I'm sure there would be no issues at all."

Kagome blinked and stared at Izayoi, completely surprised by that offer. "That sounds wonderful, actually. I was just planning to grab a hotel room for the night and then see what apartments were available to rent. How much would you be asking per month though? If it's in my price range, I would love to take you up on that kind of offer."

"That's a really good idea, Mom," Inuyasha agreed. It was probably the most perfect solution. He would have his old room back in the house, and Kagome would have her own house as well, so they could have their own personal spaces but be close enough to visit at any time.

Later that evening, after an exhausting day of getting set up and making herself at home, and taking two trips back into town to go shopping, Kagome was thrilled at the idea of a nice, hot shower before crawling into an actual bed. She hadn't taken one in two full days at least, so she spent some extra time washing up. Despite it being so cold out right now, for it was still spring, the little cottage was quite warm and cozy, so she put on a pair of shorts and baggy tee for the night.

A knock on the door caught her attention, so she hurried over to answer it. "Mind if I come in?" Inuyasha asked, as he casually leaned against the doorframe. His silver hair was almost golden, with the rays of the setting sun illuminating it from behind.

"Sure, welcome to my humble home," Kagome said graciously, as she bowed and opened the door. The shower had done wonders for her mood, and soothed her sore muscles. All that sleeping on planes and airport seats had not been that kind on her body.

Inuyasha walked around a little, checking out the very nicely decorated space, that his Mom had created. She always had a knack for interior design, and the entire place was very cozy and inviting. It literally looked like something out of a magazine. He stuck his hands in his pockets, feeling a little awkward, for he wasn't sure how to approach things. "So, um, Kagome?" he paused, until she was looking his way. "Can we just talk for a bit?"

"Sure," Kagome replied slowly. "How about we just sit on the couch?" She followed him and took a seat, sitting a bit nervously, for he wanted to talk to her.

She took a seat and Inuyasha followed suit, sitting next to her as he fiddled with his thumbs for a moment. "Look, I'm not really good at this sort of thing. I've never had a girlfriend before, and I'm probably going to screw things up somehow at some point." He paused and shook his head, laughing. "I think I'm already screwing up, because this isn't how I had it worded in my head earlier."

"You're fine," Kagome managed a small smile. His frustration was actually quite endearing to her.

"What I mean is, I know something happened to you, and it was really bad. I kind of got an idea on the plane earlier, but I didn't think much of it at the time, or I would have been able to warn my Mom before bringing the topic up," Inuyasha sighed, having to pause again to try and straighten his thoughts in his head. "My mom didn't tell me anything specific that you told her, but she did tell me that you hadn't spoken to anybody about it. If it helps, would you be willing to tell me what happened? Or if not, at the very least just tell me what topics to avoid."

Kagome hung her head, once again suddenly not wanting to face him right now. "I don't want to cry in front of you."

"I don't want you to cry either," Inuyasha told her honestly. "But I'm prepared for tears. If you don't want to now, I understand. But it might help to just get it all out, and I'll just listen."

"You're prepared for tears?" Kagome managed to laugh at that.

Inuyasha gave her a nervous grin. "Not really. I'm not looking forward to tears, if I'm honest, but I'm your boyfriend now, so you're supposed to get to cry on me when you need to. Right?" He had grabbed a box of tissues as he had made his rounds earlier, and set it on the coffee table.

Kagome couldn't help but laugh at his gesture, and how sweet he was being. "If I talk, I'm going to cry a lot."

"Have at it," Inuyasha shrugged. "I'm not going to force you to talk if you're not ready, so it's entirely up to you."

"Thank you," Kagome said quietly. She grabbed a fistful of napkins and curled up against Inuyasha's side, listening to his heart thump in his chest for a few moments before she worked up the courage to speak. Once she started talking, she couldn't stop, even as the tears began to fall, so she filled him in on everything. From the accident that killed her father and brother when she was younger, to her mother's passing a few years later due to cancer. How it had been her mother's dream to see her daughter graduate college, and how she had just barely made it to her graduation day. Her mother had such high hopes and dreams for her, and that was what fueled her to actually succeed at them. She was a bawling mess by the time she finished telling her tale, as she gripped Inuyasha's waist and buried her face to his chest.

Inuyasha was just letting Kagome cry her eyes out on him, as he rubbed her back. He couldn't imagine going through what she had, and it killed him to think of how much she actually suffered still when she wasn't all cheerful and smiles in front of others.

"I feel a lot better," Kagome admitted with a shudder, after falling silent for several long minutes. She was still clinging onto Inuyasha, who had proven to be quite patient with her as she cried her eyes out. "I'm just really embarrassed though. Sorry for crying all over you like that."

"No need to apologize. I'm just glad you feel a lot better now. Sometimes you have to just let it all out before you can start to heal, I guess," Inuyasha said gruffly.

"I guess," Kagome sniffed. "God, I'm exhausted. I don't think I even have the energy to get up and go to bed."

"You don't need to," Inuyasha told her. He shifted out from underneath and turned to pick her up in one quick swoop. Kagome squeaked a bit when she found herself being held bridal style up in the air. "I'll just put you to bed myself." He carried her to the bedroom with quick strides and gently deposited her down on the bed before turning to leave.

"Stay with me!" Kagome blurted out, just as he turned to leave.

"For the night?" Inuyasha asked, raising a brow as he turned back to face her. When she nodded quickly, he gave her a small grin. "Alright. Do you mean in here? Or I can just go and sleep in the living room on the couch, if you prefer."

"No, I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch. You can share my bed with me. I trust you to not do anything I don't want you to," Kagome grinned up at him.

"Good. I'll only do anything that you actually want me to," Inuyasha couldn't resist teasing her. "Um, one thing though. I don't like to sleep with a shirt on. So you're going to get a look at my famous abs that you were wanting to see earlier."

"I have _abs_olutely zero problem with that," Kagome declared, bursting into laughter at her own play on words. Folding her arms up behind her head, she gave him a sly grin. "I'm waiting."

Inuyasha just rolled his eyes at the bad joke and grabbed the hem of his shirt. He did feel a little weird taking his shirt off in front of her, but he sucked it up and pulled it off with one quick movement. Kagome's eyes went wide as soon as she saw his lean yet well muscled body come into view. "Wow," was all she was capable of saying. He was literally perfect, from his biceps and pecs all the way down to his six pack, that was well-defined without being overly muscular. Much like a runner rather than a body builder.

"Try not to drool too much," Inuyasha reminded her, as he watched her eyes roam over his bare upper body. He dropped his shirt to the side and hurried to crawl onto the bed next to her and lay down. While he had initially been embarrassed, her reaction did stoke his ego a bit.

"I'll try, but you're drool-worthy. You're a total hunk," Kagome informed him. Just to be certain, she discreetly reached down and made sure that she wasn't actually drooling all over the place. She had already drooled on him once before and she didn't need him to think that she had an actual problem.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha told her, shaking his head in disbelief. Dropping down onto his side, he propped his head up with one arm and rested his other across her body. She seemed so small next to him, as she lay there surrounded by pillows and blankets. It was still a bit surreal to him, how they had gone from strangers too dating so quickly.

Kagome was tired though, and her eyes were starting to drift shut. It was the first time she was sharing a bed with a member of the opposite sex, so she was slightly nervous from the thrill of it. She did trust him, though, otherwise she wouldn't have invited him to spend the night like that in the first place.

Sensing her growing fatigue, Inuyasha pushed himself over a bit so that he could reach her lips. Despite being tired, she definitely was not tired enough to kiss him, so she parted her lips and shared a slow but sweet kiss for a few moments. It was a little early for bedtime for him, but he, too, was fatigued from globe-trotting. The extra sleep would be quite welcome.

Once they finished their kiss, he tightened his arm around her waist as she rolled to her side, pulling her flush against his chest as he spooned her from behind. This was definitely something he was looking forward to getting used to, he thought, as he buried his nose into her hair and drifted off to sleep.

_Please feel free to review! :D_


	7. Chapter 7 Happy Birthday Kagome!

_A/N: _BEFORE YOU START READING_, please note that there are two versions of this chapter. To adhere to FF guidelines, I have removed the lemon from this chapter. Therefore it is significantly shorter on here LOL. If you would like to read the chapter in its entirety as it was meant to be read, please check it out on AO3. Feel free to PM me if you can't find it for whatever reason._

"Happy Birthday, Kagome! Here's twenty one candles for you to blow out!" Izayoi announced, as she carried a large, beautifully decorated cake out to the dinner table. Baking was one of her favorite pastimes, and upon hearing that Kagome had a birthday coming up, she insisted on whipping up something spectacular. That was an accurate description, for it looked like something you would see in a professional baking magazine. It was white, with intricate white details, and had cherry blossom branches all around it. She had remembered that those were one of her favorite trees, Kagome realized with a grin. Her boyfriend's mother was so sweet.

"Aw, that's beautiful! Thank you!" Kagome gushed. As the cake was placed in front of her, she got up and gathered her hair away from her face to hold it at her nape.

"I'm glad you like it. Now make a wish!" Izayoi said cheerfully, as she bustled around the table, getting the cake plates and utensils set up.

Kagome grinned and glanced over at her boyfriend, who was sitting with his chin propped in his hand, as he watched her. They had been dating for a little over a month now, and their relationship had quickly become a solid one. She absolutely adored him, even if they did have their squabbles from time to time. He was a little rough around the edges, with a bit of a fiery personality to match hers, but he always looked out for her and was quite doting as a significant other. Closing her eyes, she made her wish and blew out all the candles with one long, deep breath.

"Yes! You got them all!" Sango clapped at her from across the table. Shortly after they had arrived here in Montana, Inuyasha had brought her out on a double date to meet his childhood friends. Sango and her boyfriend Miroku were pretty much the only real friends he had ever had, and Kagome had quickly become close friends with the slightly older girl.

"Good job!" Toga exclaimed, as he held his hand up to give her a high five. Not only did she adore Inuyasha, but she adored his parents as well. His human mother was one of the most kind and sweet humans she had ever met, and reminded her of her late mother. His father, who obviously was the youkai half of his bloodline, was very easygoing and had a great personality. While Inuyasha resembled the great dog demon quite a bit, especially in terms of hair and eyes, his facial features came from his mom. His eye color when he was human came from his mom as well, although hers were slightly more brown.

Her birthday dinner consisted of just the six of them. Inuyasha also had a much older half-brother, on his father's side of the family, but Sesshomaru was quite the opposite of him. He was rather distant and a bit cold, and had only visited once in the past month, when he was in town. He had pretty much brushed Kagome off upon meeting her, but she had been expecting that, as they had warned her beforehand that he wasn't very receptive towards people in general.

"We also have some gifts for you, as well," Izayoi smiled, as she brought out a couple of wrapped gifts and a large gift bag.

"Oh, thank you! You didn't have to!" Kagome exclaimed, as she gratefully accepted the gifts.

"Of course we had to! You're part of the family since you're dating our son!" Toga declared proudly. He grinned widely as he glanced over at his younger son, who was busy gazing at his girlfriend like nobody else was in the room. It made him happy beyond belief, for he had seen the change in his son's demeanor ever since he came home with a girlfriend. He had definitely matured in the two years that he had been away from home, and overall he just seemed a lot happier these days than he had ever been.

"What about you, Inuyasha? Where's your gift for your lovely girlfriend?" Izayoi put her hand on his shoulder and frowned down at him.

"I was going to give it to her later, Mom," Inuyasha glanced up as he replied.

"Of course he is," Miroku snickered at his best friend.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I just figured Kagome could open my gifts on her actual birthday, tomorrow."

"That sounds great to me," Kagome grinned. She had the big knife so she cut the cake and distributed the pieces, so they could eat before she unwrapped her presents. The gift bag from Inuyasha's parents was full of gourmet cookies, and included a note instructing her to make sure to not let Inuyasha hog them all, which made her laugh a bit. Her other gifts from them were a GoPro with accessories and a really nice, high quality backpack, as she had been complaining about her old one almost falling apart. It would definitely come in useful with the hiking she had been doing with her boyfriend.

"Thank you, I love everything so much!" Kagome gushed. She jumped to her feet and gave Toga and Izayoi big hugs.

Next she opened the gifts that were given jointly by Sango and Miroku. They had gotten her a digital picture frame and a couple of pairs of cute socks with dogs on them, which she found amusing. "Thanks guys! You're all so sweet!" She jumped back up to give her friends hugs as well.

"Glad you love the gifts!" Sango told her happily. "I picked ours out, because Miroku is an idiot when it comes to giving gifts."

"Hey!" Miroku protested indignantly.

"He is an idiot even when he's not giving gifts," Inuyasha couldn't help but chime in, which Sango just laughed and nodded at. "Anyways, we better get on our way, since it's a little bit of a drive to the cabin. Just trying to be there by the time I selected for check-in since it's a tiny family-run place."

"Alright, you go run off and have some fun together. Be safe, you two," Toga added, giving them a sly wink. Inuyasha shot his father a look, which the others seemed to find quite funny.

"I'm ready to go. Just let me go grab my bag and we can go," Kagome told her boyfriend. Before they left, she thanked everybody once again as they said their goodbyes.

Sango and Miroku headed out to leave as they exited as well, armed with leftovers from dinner and cake, as Izayoi had made far more than they could eat. Inuyasha followed her to her little rental house, where her old backpack had already been packed and was waiting. It would make this one last trip and then she would retire it for her new one. "Okay, so, I packed for three nights, like you said to. Anything else I need to bring?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "Probably not, as long as you brought some warm clothes since it will probably still be cool outside at night. I'm sure there are plenty of amenities where we're going, as long as the site was accurate. We can always run to town if need be anyway."

Kagome slipped her hand into his as they headed out to his truck, as he was carrying her backpack for her. "Sounds great to me. I'm so excited to just get away for the weekend. It will be a great break from the real world of adulthood." She had no idea where they were going, exactly, aside from the fact that it was going to be a romantic getaway at a nice place.

"So what are we going to do?" Kagome questioned him, after they had driven for a bit.

Inuyasha just shrugged at her. "We can do whatever you want to do. It's your birthday after all. If you want to just take it easy and laze around all day, that's fine by me. If you want to go on a ten mile hike, I'm game. You pick."

"A lazy birthday sounds great, but maybe we can go on a hike after that at some point," Kagome decided.

The drive wasn't too bad, so they made it there before the sun had set. With summer officially just days away, the sun was setting quite late here. Inuyasha had run to do the self check in real quick and make sure he had the key before leading her out on a short walk, where they could watch the sun go down over the mountain range, and then the stars that followed once twilight deepened too black. The late springtime night was quite chilly, so they hurried on in to their cozy little bed and breakfast. It was a wooden cabin in the woods, far from any other structure, so they were going to have plenty of privacy.

"Oh, this is awesome!" Kagome exclaimed, as they wandered around the cabin. It was a cute little place, very homey and inviting. The decor was on the rustic side, which was quite fitting for the location. It even smelled amazing in here. They even had a large fireplace, with a decent sized pile of firewood to use.

While Kagome ducked off to the bathroom to get ready for bed, Inuyasha quickly changed out of his regular clothes and put on his favorite pair of pajama pants before he jumped onto the bed. It was a large king sized bed and super comfortable, with thick comforters and more than enough pillows. He stretched out on his back and got comfortable, as he waited for his girlfriend to join him.

Kagome had a slight blush on her face when she emerged from the bathroom. She had a red flannel plaid button up shirt on and no pants or shorts. "Hey look, we match," she informed him, as she carefully crawled onto the bed to sit next to her boyfriend, putting her weight on one side of her hip and stretching her bare legs out alongside him.

"Perfectly," Inuyasha turned his head and grinned, his eyes roving over her. "You make red plaid look way sexier, though."

"No way," Kagome argued playfully, shaking her head at him. Glancing down at his bare torso, she drank in the sight of his warm, lightly tanned skin before reaching to touch him, because she could not resist. Her fingertips trailed along the defined outlines of his abs, which she never got tired of seeing or touching.

"Yes way," Inuyasha insisted. He let his eyes drift shut for a moment, while his girlfriend caressed his torso, which always felt amazing. Her scent was already becoming extremely intoxicating right now, as it often was when they had their hot and heavy makeout sessions. After letting her trail her fingers over his bare upper body for a moment, he pushed himself up. If she wasn't going to lay down next to him, he would have to go to her.

Getting to his knees, he looped an arm around Kagome's waist and pulled her over so she was straddling his leg, making her squeak with surprise. His sharp eyes peered at her, flicking from her blue eyes to her reddish lips, back up to her cute nose that had the faintest hint of freckles on it. She was gorgeous and she was all his.

"I want you," he murmured. Pulling her even closer, he started to run his hands up along her back, as he crashed his lips to hers. Kagome eagerly returned his kiss, slipping her hands to the nape of his neck, her fingertips making him shiver with delight as they hit a sensitive area. Her touch always felt so good, and drove him crazy, anywhere she touched. As her hands started to rove to the top of his head and stroke his ears, he groaned and bit down on her lip, making her let out an impressive growl of her own. It was extremely hot, he thought.

"I want you too," Kagome whispered, leaning back a bit to gaze at him while she continually rubbed his ears. She was well aware of the effect that it had on him, and he wasn't resisting her efforts as much as he usually did, when it came to ear rubbing. A look of sheer pleasure was on his face, as he tilted his head towards her hand, allowing her to massage the base of his ears without stopping her. Wanting to taste him again, she pressed her lips to his and eagerly snaked her tongue out, gliding it across his and shivering when she felt the slight prick of a fang. His kisses never ceased to excite her.

"Good, cause you've already got me," Inuyasha mumbled, as he nipped her lower lip lightly, just the way she liked it. His hands slid down her back to her waist, before moving back up, gently massaging her as he worked her back while continuing with his kisses. As he squeezed her back slightly, roving his hands around her shoulder blades, he smirked against her lips when he eventually realized how smooth she felt beneath the fabric. "You're not wearing a bra, are ya?"

Leaning back, Inuyasha gazed at her, his lip lifted up to bare the tip of a fang as he grinned at her. His eyes flickered down, widening a bit when he realized he could see the bumps of her nipples through the shirt. Yeah, she definitely wasn't wearing a bra. He detected a wave of nervousness radiating from her, so he snapped his head up to give her a slight concerned look.

Kagome blushed again, as she pushed herself back a bit, so she was fully upright on her knees. "Remember when we were on the plane, messing with that annoying girl, and you were joking about being in that cabin in the woods? With me wearing your red flannel shirt and nothing else?" she asked quietly, doing her best not to quaver or stutter or somehow stumble on her words. Her hands moved to the collar of the shirt, and slowly began to unbutton it. "Well…"

Inuyasha stared at his girlfriend with wide eyes, watching her hands as they moved from button to button, down from her neck to somewhere around her waist. As the red plaid panels started to separate, her pale skin was revealed more and more to him. Suddenly he remembered how to breathe once again and his chest heaved. "Oh, I _definitely_ remember that. It put a visual in my head for a whole week after. I just didn't think it would actually happen," he admitted with a short laugh.

"It is happening," Kagome told him. Working up her resolve, she tugged the soft fabric down off her shoulders, revealing her entire upper body to him as the flannel shirt pooled around her hips, where it was still partially buttoned. They had fooled around before, mostly just heavy petting underneath their shirts, and over her bra, but neither one of them had ever actually gotten naked in front of the other. She did feel self-conscious and a little nervous, but she was ready to take their relationship to another level now. Inuyasha's eyes started to smolder as he stared at her, and a second later she found herself wrapped up in her boyfriend's tight embrace, when he grabbed her for another long, passionate kiss.

Before long, all clothing was removed as Inuyasha moved her to lay on her back. She was nervous, he could tell, but she also wanted this badly. Taking his time, he lavished her entire body with attention, before finally taking it all the way.

"We are officially lovers now!" Kagome declared giddily, upon him finishing. She was on cloud nine right about now, for their first time had been totally perfect. Sure, she was a little sore, but that was to be expected, and it honestly didn't hurt as much as she had anticipated.

Inuyasha rolled off of his girlfriend, to lay next to her on his side, so he could gaze at her feminine curves. "Yeah. We sure are," he agreed sleepily, reaching out to rest a hand in the middle of her abdomen. His thumb moved in little circles, tracing the edge of the tattoo that was on her side. It was really well done and he liked getting to see it in full. "Was that good for you?"

Kagome bit her lip and turned her head to grin at him. At the movement he glanced up at her, his golden eyes full of affection, but also a little worried at her silence. She flashed him a reassuring smile. "Yes, it was great. For such a _big_, strong man, you can be quite gentle."

That made Inuyasha smirk at her, and relax a bit, for he had been worried that in his inexperience, he hadn't performed well enough. "I figured I would be nice and gentle for our first time together, but I'm willing to go rougher once you think you can handle me." He raised his brows suggestively which made her laugh.

"I think I can handle you just fine," she replied. Rolling onto her side to face her boyfriend, Kagome draped an arm around his waist as she snuggled into place against his chest. She was tired too, for it was rather late by now. They were both asleep within minutes.

The morning of Kagome's twenty first birthday was spent by sleeping in, lots of sweet cuddles and playful kisses, and a hot bath complete with a massage as she soaked. Inuyasha made sure she was very well taken care of, as he outright spoiled her for her birthday getaway. Once they finished their bath, Kagome donned one of the thick, fluffy robes that was provided and took up residence on the bed, lounging back against the pile of pillows.

"Ooh, sexy," Kagome grinned, as she watched Inuyasha stroll to her side of the bed. He also had a robe on, except he didn't bother putting his arms in the sleeves, so it was just tied around his waist to hang and cover his lower half. The comment made him laugh and shake his head, as he walked towards her with two gift bags in his hands.

"Happy birthday!" Inuyasha accounted, as he took a seat next to her, placing the bags between them. "It's not much, but I hope you like it."

"I'll let you know," Kagome teased him, as she grabbed the larger bag. She pulled all the tissue paper out to find a new purse inside. It felt like leather, she thought, as she pulled it out. "Oh wow, Inuyasha! You bought it for me after all!" she exclaimed, as she held it up. It was definitely leather, and had an adorable cartoon like leather T-Rex on one side. She had texted him the link to the purse about three weeks ago, after she saw it advertised on Facebook and had gushed over how adorable she thought it was. There was something else in the gift bag, she realized, and dug out a matching wallet. "Aw! This is just too cute! I love it!"

Inuyasha watched her fawn over the gifts, feeling quite pleased that she loved them. He knew she would though, for she had not been the least bit subtle with her hints at wanting the purse.

Kagome grabbed the second bag, which was a lot smaller. Inside the tissue paper was a little wooden box made out of light cherry wood with a T-Rex carved on the lid. "More T-Rex stuff?" she giggled.

"Yeah, it's kind of the theme," Inuyasha told her. After he had bought the purse and wallet, he had gone crazy trying to think of what else to get her for her birthday. Then one day when he was hanging out at her place after work, she had mentioned that she really needed something better to put the small amount of jewelry she owned in. He watched as her eyes widened a bit when she opened the lid.

"Wow. This is perfect!" she laughed, as she looked at the little picture of the two of them with Sue. He had printed it and stuck it inside the box. "I love it. I really do!"

"I'm glad. I suck at buying gifts, so if you hadn't given me those ideas, I wouldn't have had the slightest idea of what to get you," Inuyasha admitted to her.

"You did great," Kagome reassure him. She took the picture out of the box and held it up, peering at it closely as she thought back on their trip to the museum. "You know, when you think about it, isn't it crazy how there was once this T-Rex that roamed North America, doing her T-Rex things, not having any idea that one day her skeleton would be on a display in a museum 65 million years later, and that two people would share their first kiss right under her?"

"It is," Inuyasha agreed. "I don't know about you, but I think it ended up being the perfect first kiss."

"I think so, too," Kagome agreed. She smiled as she carefully tucked the picture back inside the box and put it away. With another happy grin, she quickly turned and then all but leapt onto her boyfriend, planting sloppy kisses all over his cheeks, making him laugh at her and fall back in an effort to get away from her affections.

"Ugh, you're such a sap!" Inuyasha yelped, as he allowed himself to be tackled to the bed. His girlfriend had pretty much jumped him and pinned him down on his back in her efforts to cover him with kisses.

"Oh, I know I am, but I can't help it because I love you," Kagome crooned, as she settled on top of him, laying down fully flat on his torso. Taking a break from kisses, she reached up and started massaging his ears with both hands.

Inuyasha closed his eyes and groaned at the sensation. Damn her, for knowing one of his major weaknesses that always made him like putty in her hands. "Mmm. I love you too, Kagome."

Kagome leaned down and kissed him as he lay there enjoying the ear massage. "Thank you again for the gifts. You're such a sweetheart."

"Shh, shut up," Inuyasha cracked his eyes as he gave her a fake glare. "Don't need word getting out."

"I won't tell. Wouldn't dare try to ruin your grouchy persona that everybody sees," Kagome laughed, rolling her eyes at him. "If people, er, women knew, then I would have to fight them off of you with a stick. You're all mine." She leaned her head down and kissed his neck, much like he always did to her.

Detecting the slight spike in her scent, Inuyasha grinned at her. "Happy to be all yours, just like you're all mine, you feisty little bitch."

Kagome gave his throat a playful nip and then sat fully upright. Holding his gaze, she untied the sash around her waist and allowed the fluffy white robe to fall free. "Feisty little bitch is right," she told him, as she reached up and gathered her hair to have it all fall over one shoulder.

Inuyasha let out a growl as he flipped them over and crouched over his girlfriend. How the hell did he get such a beautiful and wild woman? "Damn right, I have a big gift for you." He grinned and raised his brows suggestively. "Ready for round two?"

_A/N: I'm a little amused at how T-rex became a part of the story. It wasn't intended but it's funny how things turn out when you write them. Thoughts and reviews are much appreciated. Please feel free to leave one!_


	8. Chapter 8 Epilogue

_A/N: _BEFORE YOU START READING,_ please note that there are two versions of this chapter. This is the tame version to comply with FF guidelines. If you would like to read the chapter in its entirety as it was meant to be read, with all the citrusy goodness, please check it out on AO3. I cut a lot of content out of this version. Feel free to PM me if you can't find it for whatever reason. _

Inuyasha folded his arms across his chest as he slouched in his airplane seat, his eyes closed as he listened to the hum of the engine. He was in the very back row, in his beloved aisle seat, on an overnight flight to London. It was pretty quiet on the airplane right now, since nearly everybody was asleep. The flight attendants had given the passengers a late supper and were now seated up front in their area, leaving everybody to have peace and quiet for now. Most likely they wouldn't be venturing out any time soon unless somebody called for assistance.

"Mind if I sit here? You look kinda lonely, all there by yourself," a low, sultry feminine voice interrupted his thoughts, making him crack his eyes open. Before him stood the most beautiful woman that he had ever lay eyes on. With one elbow propped on the seat in front of him, she stood there, leaning her body suggestively with her hips tilted to the side. She had on low rise jeans and a red flannel button up shirt, with the bottom part tied in a bow, just above the top of her jeans. Long black hair cascaded over her shoulder in loose waves, with just a hint of dark blue highlight in her locks that matched her eyes.

"Hmmm….I might not mind _too_ much," Inuyasha's lip curled up in a sly grin. "Although, I do have a wife…"

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind, whoever she is," Kagome grinned at him. She started to climb across his legs, making her way to the window seat. "Lucky girl she is, to have such a ridiculously sexy husband such as yourself."

Inuyasha let her crawl over to her window seat and then leaned over to give her lips a quick kiss. "_Nobody_ is sexier than my smokin' hot wife."

"Oh?" Kagome asked, leaning over the armrest with her chin propped in her hand. She studied his face, gazing deep into dark green hazel eyes. "What does she look like, this smokin' hot wife of yours?"

"She has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen, and long black hair, with some blue that she just put in it. She's a short little thing, about 5'3", but full of spirit. One hundred and twenty pounds. Adorable-"

"One hundred and ten!" Kagome exclaimed loudly, interrupting him quickly, and giving him a punch on the upper arm.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at her. "Same thing."

"Alright, maybe I'm closer to one hundred and fifteen now," Kagome admitted sheepishly. She held his gaze for a moment, admiring their color as she read his current emotions. Seeing him like this was a rare treat, but one she did get to enjoy regularly, every twenty eight days when he became human for the night. Also whenever they flew on an airplane, when he had to wear the youkai suppressor, and then also now and then when he put it on in the bedroom, for variety's sake. His claws always excited her, but sometimes the blunt nails could touch her in ways he normally could not.

"Like I said, same thing. She's smoking hot no matter what," Inuyasha grinned.

"Why, thank you," she replied happilly. Closing her eyes, she let out a yawn as she stretched her arms high overhead, making sure to put extra effort into arching her back and pushing her chest out as much as possible. "I'm really tired now. We should probably try to get _some_ sleep, at least. So we have energy when we finally land."

Hating the distance between them, Inuyasha took the middle seat since she still wanted her beloved window. It was rather difficult trying to cuddle on the plane and get comfortable, but they did the best they could, with Kagome leaning onto his chest. "I love you, lady," Inuyasha told her, as he planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"I love you too, my dear hubby," Kagome replied giddily. He had an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her gently, as she snuggled on him. Holding her hand up, she admired the ring on her finger, tilting it in the dim light to watch it sparkle, as she did now and then. Although she was tired, her brain wasn't ready to turn off just yet, and memories of that day played through her mind once again.

"_Hey, Kagome, before we head on out to the airport, let's just stop by the museum for a moment. Just need to pay somebody a visit real quick, ok?" Inuyasha asked._

"_Oh, sure. Who do we need to visit?" Kagome asked, giving her boyfriend a questioning look. They had been scrambling all day to finish packing for their two week vacation. It was late June, and they were going away for their two year anniversary and her twenty third birthday. Technically both of those milestones had already passed, but they had wanted to wait for the weather to warm up just a bit first, before planning their adventurous getaway. Kagome had been dying to go up to Banff and Jasper National Parks for just about forever now, so he had decided to surprise her with the trip. She scrunched her nose up as she glanced at her phone. "Do we even have time to go?"_

"_Yeah, it's no problem. It won't matter if we get there a little after it closes, and there's plenty of time before our flight anyway," Inuyasha reassured her._

_Kagome shrugged at him and continued putting more clothes into her luggage. "Ok. If it's that important, fine."_

"_Yup," Inuyasha acknowledged. He had finished packing, so he climbed over to sprawl across their bed. _

_She still lived in the cottage she had been renting on his parent's property, but he basically moved in with her over a year prior. Of course they both had free access to the main house, and he still had belongings there, but essentially they did live together. She shot him a look as he lay there lazily. "Are you sure you didn't forget anything?" He just gave her the thumbs up in response, so she sighed and did a triple check of her packed belongings. Most likely she would forget to pack something and not realize it until she had arrived in Calgary._

_Izayoi had offered to drive them to the airport, so they didn't have to worry about wasting money on an Uber, and when she asked Inuyasha who he needed to stop and visit so urgently at the museum first, he seemed a little flustered for a second before saying he needed to give somebody he knew something important and that it literally couldn't wait for after they got back. She hadn't questioned him further, sensing he didn't want to tell her, but just merely dropped them off and said she would wait in the car. Kagome had started to say she would wait in the car as well, but Inuyasha was already grabbing her hand and tugging her to come with him._

"_What are we doing here? And what do you have to give somebody? You're not even carrying anything," Kagome questioned curiously, as he pushed his way through the Employee Only door in the back of the building of the Museum of the Rockies._

"_You'll see," Inuyasha turned and gave her a grin._

_Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "You aren't giving me away, are you?"_

_Inuyasha scoffed a laugh at her. "Course not, silly. This way." Holding her hand in his, he led her through the maze of exhibits of dinosaur skeletons. They came to a stop beneath the T-Rex on display. "Here we are, Montana's Rex, also known as Peck's Rex."_

_Turning to gaze up at the large skeleton looming over them, Kagome tilted her head in confusion. "There is nobody in here at all, except the two of us, and Peck's Rex. So…you have to give the T-Rex something? I'm so confused right now." She turned around to face her boyfriend only to realize that he was mere inches from her._

_Instead of answering her, Inuyasha merely cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her face up. The kiss he gave her was sweet and tender. "I love you, Kagome." He pressed his forehead to hers for a moment, before ducking down to give her another kiss. "You know, remember when we went to the Field Museum in Chicago, on our flight home from Africa? We went to see your old flame Sue, and then I kissed you while we were standing under her and that was the start of us becoming boyfriend and girlfriend?"_

"_Yes, of course," Kagome grinned up at him. How the hell could she ever forget that day? "Is that what this is about? You want to start a ritual of kissing me under dinosaurs before we have a plane to catch from now on?"_

_Inuyasha had stuck his tongue out a little and laughed at that. "Well, that wasn't what I had in mind, but sure. We can make this a good luck pitstop before we fly out of here from now on, if ya want. But…the real reason I wanted to stop here for just a moment was because I'm getting really sick and tired of calling you my girlfriend."_

"_Wait…what?!" Kagome exclaimed in shock, sucking her breath in as her hand flew to her mouth. "You can't-" Her words were cut off as Inuyasha grabbed her chin and tilted her face back up as he kissed her once again, this time more passionately. Her mind was reeling, as she tried to make sense of what he could possibly mean by that. Just as she was about to cry out and yell at him in confusion, her words died in her throat and her eyes went wide, as he took her left hand and dropped down to one knee._

"_I would much rather call you my fiancé. And then eventually my wife. So, with the T-Rex as our witness, will you marry me?" Inuyasha asked, as he peered up at her. For several long seconds, Kagome just stared at his rich golden eyes that were gazing up at her, slightly obscured by his thick white bangs. It was as if time had literally come to a standstill and she forgot how to breathe. When he blinked and raised his brows at her, she snapped back to reality as tears literally started streaming down her face._

"_Yes!" she all but wailed, as she put her free hand to her face to cover her tears. "Ohmygod YES!" Her eyes were still closed as she felt her boyfriend, no her fiancé, slip the ring onto her finger. When she finally moved her left hand to her face, she cracked her eyes and let more tears spill as she admired the beautifully cut sapphire ring she was now wearing, with little tiny diamonds surrounding the large deep blue stone. Her favorite gemstone in the world, and he had remembered that. "It's so beautiful!" she sobbed._

"_So are you, even with snot all over your face," Inuyasha teased her. He grabbed some tissues from his pocket and started cleaning her off._

"_I do not have snot on my face!" Kagome exclaimed in mortification, grabbing the tissues from her hand and hurriedly wiping herself clean. The happy tears had now stopped and she was grinning like an absolute fool. _

"_Not anymore," Inuyasha smirked at her, grabbing her free hand. "Let's hurry on back to the car so we can get to the airport." The newly engaged couple scurried out of the museum, quickly hopping into the backseat of Izayoi's SUV._

"_Inuyasha proposed to me!" Kagome exclaimed, as she leaned up to the front, sticking her hand out for her to admire her shiny new ring._

"_Oh! Sweetie, that's beautiful! About time!" Izayoi exclaimed happily, grabbing Kagome's hand to peer closely at the brilliant sapphire. "Congratulations, you two! I'm so happy that you'll officially be joining out family soon. I love you both so much!"_

"_I'm going to be a Mrs. Takahashi too! Ahhh I can't wait!" Kagome exclaimed with glee, as she sat back while her future mother-in-law began driving off. She cuddled up to her fiancé's side, letting him hug her, as they rode to the airport._

_They ended up getting married a year later, right around the official beginning of summer. Since this was literally going to be a once in a lifetime occasion, Kagome wanted to take her time planning it, so that everything was absolutely perfect. _

_Being avid nature lovers, they had wanted to get married in the great outdoors, and chose to hold their wedding here in Inuyasha's home state. They had decided to hold it in Glacier National Park, because Kagome was in love with the iconic scenery there. It was a small wedding, with Toga giving Kagome away to his son, as she had no immediate or close family members to play the fatherly role. _

_Sango was Kagome's maid of honor, and since Miroku was a notary, he ended up taking on the role of officiating the wedding, while doubling as the best man. Sango's youkai kitty, Kirara, had played the part of flower girl, er flower cat, technically. Sesshomaru had even showed up, with his new girlfriend, a youkai named Kagura. She was actually pretty cool, and to their surprise, Sesshomaru was a bit more open and relaxed with them all. It was a small, intimate wedding, but it was absolutely perfect in every way._

_Planning the wedding had been rather fun, and she had gone over every last little detail, from the matching color scheme to the flowers to the specific time of day they wanted the ceremony as to allow for the best lighting for photos. Their photographer had been this funny little gay guy named Jakotsu, who very comically had the hots for her dog-eared fiancé. _

_The only aspect of their wedding that Inuyasha had given his staunch insistence on was that it be held on a day where they would have a full moon for their wedding night. Kagome knew of the mating process amongst youkai, as she had talked to Izayoi in great detail about it, after Inuyasha has proposed to her. Inuyasha had insisted on officially consummating their marriage the night of the full moon, as his youkai would be at its strongest, and he wanted to claim his new wife for all of eternity on that special occasion._

_Memories of her wedding night still gave Kagome shivers, whenever she daydreamed about it. They had gone to stay in a reclusive little cabin in the midst of the Montana wilderness, as the start of their honeymoon. Kagome had changed into a second wedding dress, as Inuyasha had made clear that he had the fantasy of literally shredding and ripping her wedding dress from her body. She loved the dress she had picked out immensely, and wanted to keep it for the sentimental value, hence the need for the second one he could have fun with. Also if they were to renew their vows one day, she wanted to be able to wear it again. _

_So she found a similar looking, much cheaper version of the dress she wore for their ceremony, one that she wouldn't mind being torn to shreds. As the full moon rose that night, Inuyasha had done something that allowed his youkai to completely take over, transforming him into a full youkai mode. While his appearance was definitely more formidable, she hadn't been the least bit afraid of him. He hadn't changed too much, but his eyes had turned red and his fangs and claws elongated and jagged purple stripes appeared on his cheeks._

_Indeed, he did in fact shred her entire wedding dress to pieces, as he fucked her senseless out in the wide open meadow beneath the light of the full moon. They did enjoy rough sex from time to time, but on their wedding night, when he was full youkai, the sex was downright primal and raw. As he claimed her that night, he did so while taking her from behind, biting her on the neck and pinning her beneath him in the process. It had definitely hurt, but it was a pleasurable pain, and didn't stop her from wanting to continue their activities long into the night. She was sore for days._

Yes, their wedding night had definitely been an occasion to remember…

Now here they were, several years later, as a very happily married and mated couple, off to partake in more global adventures together. Right now they were headed to London for a layover, and then they would be returning to South Africa. Inuyasha still had his connections from his time working there a decade ago, and they finally had the time and the finances to plan a two week excursion back to the country they had been in when they first laid eyes on each other. They had wanted to go back for old times sake, and for Inuyasha to get to show Kagome firsthand some of what he had done in his time there previously.

By now, they had been together for a total of ten years, with seven of them had been spent married. Sango and Miroku had gotten married shortly after their wedding, and now had three little kids. Inuyasha and Kagome had chosen to spend more time focusing on their careers for a bit, and had bought a beautiful but modest home on a large tract of land with prime views of the surrounding mountain ranges. It had been just the two of them, but as their best friends began having children, they started talking about the possibility themselves. They had decided she should stop taking her birth control just under two weeks ago, in effort to be at her most fertile while they were away in South Africa.

"So, you're really definitely excited about the idea of starting our own little family?" Kagome asked, tilting her head back to gaze at her handsome husband's face. Even from this odd angle, he was gorgeous. He didn't have his adorable doggie ears right now, but she sure hoped their children would end up with them.

Inuyasha opened his eyes and moved to look down at his sweet wife, the woman that was his whole world. His arm tightened around her as he hugged her, his nose nestling into her thick black locks. Even in his human form, he could tell how amazing she smelled. "Absolutely," he declared, as his face broke out into a sly grin. "I have _every_ intention of getting you pregnant while we're on our vacation." And if by some chance, he didn't succeed this month, they would at least have a lot of fun trying.

_A/N: Nooo, I'm sad this is over. I had a lot of fun writing this, so please feel free to leave a review if you enjoyed the ride as well, even if you just read it on AO3. I've enjoyed reading all the feedback!_

_Edited to be exactly 36,000 words!_


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